Otsukaresama: one of the phrases you'll hear most at work in Japan (お疲れ様)

Otsukaresama (お疲れ様) is one of the phrases you’ll hear most in any Japanese workplace. Colleagues say it when someone finishes a job, heads home, or passes them in the corridor. It’s built on 疲, tired, so it’s a polite way of saying “you must be tired”, and it means “thanks for your hard work”.

What the kanji say

疲 (hi, or tsukareru) means tired or worn out. The frame around it, 疒, is the sickness radical. It began as a picture of a person lying in bed, and it wraps around kanji for illness, such as 病 (byou), disease, and 痛 (tsuu), pain. Inside sits 皮 (hi), skin, which gives the sound. Tiredness, in kanji, is a kind of being unwell.

様 (sama, or you) means way, manner or appearance: 様子 (yousu) is how things look, and 様々 (samazama) means all kinds. After a name, 様 is the very polite version of さん (san). Letters are addressed to 田中様 (Tanaka-sama), and shops call their customers お客様 (okyakusama).

Put it together: お (o), an honorific, plus 疲れ (tsukare), tiredness, from 疲れる (tsukareru), to get tired, plus polite 様. Roughly, “your honourable tiredness”. It recognises the effort someone has put in. Add です (desu) or でした (deshita) to make a full, polite sentence.

A greeting for any time of day

In many Japanese offices, お疲れ様です works as an all-purpose hello between colleagues. People say it passing in the corridor or coming out of a meeting, and emails and phone calls to someone in the same company often open with it. That’s why you can hear it at nine in the morning, before anyone has had time to get tired. The first greeting when you arrive is still おはようございます (ohayou gozaimasu), though. お疲れ様です takes over after that.

At the end of the day it moves into the past tense. お疲れ様でした (otsukaresama deshita), “thanks for all your work today”, goes to anyone who’s leaving, or to everyone as you go. It’s said after any big effort, too: a long meeting, a match, a concert or a journey.

How to use it

• お疲れ様です。

  Otsukaresama desu.

  Hi. (to a colleague, at any time of day)

• お疲れ様でした。

  Otsukaresama deshita.

  Thanks for all your hard work. (at the end of the day)

• お先に失礼します。

  Osaki ni shitsurei shimasu.

  Sorry to leave before you. (when you go home first)

• 長旅お疲れ様でした。

  Nagatabi otsukaresama deshita.

  You must be tired after that long trip.

• お疲れ！

  Otsukare!

  Good job! See you! (casual)

• The reply is the same phrase. Answer お疲れ様です with お疲れ様です.
• Leaving first? Say お先に失礼します (osaki ni shitsurei shimasu), “excuse me for going before you”. The answer is お疲れ様でした.
• Don’t say ご苦労様 to your boss. ご苦労様 (gokurousama), “your honourable trouble”, sounds like the same thing, but it’s generally used by a senior to a junior, and saying it upwards can come across as rude. The Daijisen dictionary describes お疲れ様 as the one for colleagues and superiors alike.
• With friends, a casual お疲れ (otsukare) is fine after a shift, a practice or an exam.

Words with the same kanji

Remember it

Picture a colleague slumped over the desk, so tired they look ill (疲). You give a polite little bow (様) and say: お疲れ様です.

The kanji in this lesson

Tap Draw it to watch the stroke order. Numbers show where each stroke starts.

Draw it

Draw it

Sources

• Weblio (Daijisen): お疲れ様
• Mynavi News: お疲れ様です at work
• Wiktionary via Kaikki: 疲 (glyph origin)

Written by the Sumi team with the help of AI, then checked against JMdict and KANJIDIC2. How we write lessons. Spotted a mistake? Email brightsmilesolutionssupport@gmail.com.