240 / 308
しごでき shigodeki
Frighteningly good at the job.
What does shigodeki mean?
Short for 仕事ができる. High praise for someone who has handled it before you finished asking. Also used, dreamily, about a favourite character.
Example
新人なのにしごできで、みんな驚いてる。
They're new but so good at the job that everyone's impressed.
Vibe
Who you can say this to, and how it lands.
Friends only Casual. Natural with friends, out of place at work or with strangers.
The story behind shigodeki
仕事ができる, able at work, is a phrase Japanese offices have used forever, in a slightly formal register — the kind of thing a manager says about you in your absence. Clipping it to しごでき changes the temperature entirely. It is a compliment you toss across a desk or type into a group chat, never one you write in a performance review.
The short form spread online through the 2010s and 2020s among younger workers, and it holds a quiet argument with the generation above: what it admires is efficiency, not endurance. Fandom then borrowed it wholesale, so a character who simply handles his own inbox is now a recognised type of crush.
Get shigodeki in your pocket
しごでき is one of 308 words in YABAI, a Japanese culture snack for Android. Every word comes with its meaning, an example sentence, a vibe check and a story like the one above — in 13 languages, read aloud by your device. Paid app: no ads, no sign-up, no subscription.
