Faineant is an adjective that means idle or inactive. It can also be used as a noun that refers to an idle or ineffective person.

Our word of the day comes from the French phrase fait neant (fe nee AW) that translates to ‘does nothing.’ It has been imported into English since the early 17th century.

With nothing to do all day, I found myself feeling hopelessly faineant. With any luck, there will be something to occupy my time tomorrow.