Pasttime

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. An activity done for enjoyment during leisure time
2. a hobby or form of recreation that occupies free hours
3. a pursuit engaged in primarily for relaxation or pleasure

Etymology: "Pasttime" is a misspelling, an eggcorn, of "pastime," a word that describes the way people pass their spare hours. The correct spelling is built from "pass" and "time," and it was first written in Middle English as "passe tyme" or "passetyme," a direct borrowing of the Middle French "passetemps." That French word combined "passer," to pass, with "temps," time, so the English word is essentially a word-for-word copy of the French phrase, a construction called a calque. The spelling "pasttime" makes sense intuitively because the word seems to contain "past," but the root is "pass," the same verb that gives us "passage" and "passenger." Hours spent in pastimes are literally hours that pass, which is why the older spelling "passtime" is the one that shows the logic most clearly.

Synonyms: pastime, hobby, recreation, leisure activity, amusement

Antonyms: work, duty, chore, labor