乙

• 読み: おつ
• ローマ字: otsu
• 漢字の分解: 乙 (second in a series / used here phonetically for おつ from お疲れ様)
• 発音: /o.tsɯ/

意味

A kanji shorthand for 'good work' or 'thanks for your effort' — the kanji form of おつ (otsukaresama).

乙 is the single-kanji representation of おつ, which is short for お疲れ様 (otsukaresama). The kanji 乙 was chosen because its reading おつ matches the abbreviation. It's even more compact than writing おつ and is heavily used on forums, in gaming, and on social media. Can also be used somewhat sarcastically, like 'oh, good for you' depending on context.

例文

1. 配信終了、乙！
2. レポート提出した、自分に乙。
3. 乙、今日もお疲れ。

使い方ガイド

場面: online forums, gaming, social media, streaming

トーン: appreciative, sometimes sarcastic

正しい言い方

• 乙、ナイスゲーム！ (Good work, nice game!)
• 今日の仕事乙〜 (Good work today~)

避ける言い方

• 上司に「乙」は失礼すぎる (Saying '乙' to your boss is way too casual — use お疲れ様でした)

よくある間違い

• Not recognizing the sarcastic usage of 乙 (e.g., when someone fails at something)
• Using 乙 with superiors or in formal settings

起源と歴史

The kanji 乙 (otsu, meaning second/stylish) was repurposed as a visual abbreviation because its reading matches おつ from お疲れ様. Became standard on 2channel and in gaming culture in the 2000s as an even shorter way to write おつ.

文化的背景

時代: 2000s 2channel and gaming culture

世代: Internet users, all ages

社会的背景: Internet culture

地域メモ: Used across Japan online. The kanji choice is purely phonetic (おつ reading), not related to the kanji's original meaning.