手抜き

• 読み: てぬき
• ローマ字: tenuki
• 漢字の分解: 手 (hand) + 抜き (pulling out/removing) → removing effort, cutting corners
• 発音: /te.nɯ.ki/

意味

Cutting corners — doing something in a lazy, half-hearted way, skipping proper effort to save time or energy.

From the image of 'pulling out your hands' (not putting your hands into the work), 手抜き describes the act of doing something below the expected standard of effort. It's used for everything from cooking (手抜き料理 = lazy cooking) to construction (手抜き工事 = shoddy construction). While sometimes used lightheartedly for minor shortcuts, it becomes a serious criticism when applied to professional work. In Japan's quality-conscious culture, being accused of 手抜き is a significant insult to one's work ethic.

例文

1. この料理、明らかに手抜きじゃない？
2. 手抜き工事のせいで雨漏りしてるんだけど。
3. 忙しい日は手抜きご飯でいいよね。

使い方ガイド

場面: friends, workplace, casual conversation

トーン: critical, accusatory

正しい言い方

• 手抜きでもいいから、とりあえず作って。 (It's fine to cut corners — just make something.)
• 手抜きご飯の日があってもいいじゃん。 (It's okay to have lazy dinner days.)

避ける言い方

• プロの仕事に「手抜きですね」は非常に失礼 (Telling a professional their work is 'half-assed' is extremely rude)

よくある間違い

• Not distinguishing between lighthearted 手抜き (casual shortcut, like lazy cooking) and serious 手抜き (professional negligence, like shoddy construction)

起源と歴史

Standard Japanese compound from 手 (hand) and 抜き (pulling out/removing). The metaphor of removing one's hands from work to indicate lazy effort has been in use for generations.

文化的背景

時代: Traditional expression, not era-specific

世代: All ages

社会的背景: Universal

地域メモ: Used nationwide. In Japan's quality-conscious culture, professional 手抜き is taken very seriously.