社畜

• 読み: しゃちく
• ローマ字: shachiku
• 漢字の分解: 社 (company, from 会社) + 畜 (livestock, from 家畜) → corporate livestock
• 発音: /ɕa.tɕi.ku/

意味

A corporate slave — someone who works excessively long hours with blind loyalty to their company, sacrificing personal life.

社畜 is a biting term that combines 'company' and 'livestock,' implying that the worker is treated like an animal by their employer. It's widely used as self-deprecating humor by overworked office workers, especially on social media. While originally a harsh criticism of Japanese corporate culture, many people now use it half-jokingly to describe their own situation.

例文

1. 毎日終電まで働いて完全に社畜だわ。
2. 社畜やめたくてフリーランスに転職したけど、結局もっと働いてる。
3. うちの会社、社畜が多すぎて誰も定時に帰らない。

使い方ガイド

場面: friends, social media, casual conversation

トーン: self-deprecating, darkly humorous

正しい言い方

• 今月もう80時間残業してる、完全に社畜。 (I've already done 80 hours of overtime this month — total corporate slave.)
• 社畜生活から脱出したい。 (I want to escape the corporate slave life.)

避ける言い方

• 上司に「社畜ですね」は絶対言わない (Never say 'you're a corporate slave' to your boss — extremely rude even if true)

よくある間違い

• Using 社畜 to describe someone who simply works hard — it specifically implies excessive, unhealthy overwork with little reward
• Using it in formal contexts like business presentations — it's strictly casual and often self-deprecating

起源と歴史

Coined in the 1990s by combining 会社 (company) and 家畜 (livestock/domestic animal). Popularized during the era of extreme overwork in Japanese corporations and became widespread internet slang in the 2000s.

文化的背景

時代: 1990s coinage, widespread from 2000s onward

世代: All working-age adults

社会的背景: Office workers, especially salaried employees

地域メモ: Used across all of Japan. One of the most iconic terms criticizing Japanese corporate overwork culture.