Word
お大事に
Meaning in EnglishTake care of yourself, Take care!, Get well soon
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Word context
What it means
What does お大事に mean? It is a polite wish meaning 'please take care' or 'get well soon' directed at someone's health; used when someone is ill or recovering, often at the end of a conversation, card, or message to express heartfelt care. It conveys concern for the other person's well-being and functions as a conventional parting phrase.
Main meanings
- Get well soon or please take care of yourself, especially when someone is sick or recovering
- Used as a polite closing in conversations, cards, messages to convey concern for the other person's health
- Conveys warmth and concern in both casual and formal registers
How to use it
- Used toward someone who is ill or recovering
- Common in both spoken and written Japanese
- Appropriate in polite and semi-formal contexts; not used with strangers in very casual settings
Variants and close terms
- お体にお気をつけて (o-karada ni ki o tsukete) — health-focused variant
- お体を大事に (otai o daiji ni) — take good care of your body
- Be well; take care — English equivalents
Composition
- お - honorific prefix attached to nouns and phrases to show politeness
- 大事 - 大 means big/great; 事 means matter; together they form important matters, extended here to health
- に - particle indicating direction or target of the action
Etymology
o as honorific prefix; daiji from 大 big + 事 matter; the pronunciation odaiji develops as a fixed expression over time
Word class
set phrase (慣用表現)
Word
Related words by kanji and components
N4
大事
daiji
important, valuable, serious matter
N1
事柄
kotogara
matter, thing, affair, circumstance
N1
事業
jigyou
project, enterprise, business
N1
検事
kenji
public prosecutor
N1
大方
ookata
almost all, majority
N1
大柄
oogara
large build, large pattern
N1
大筋
oosuji
outline, summary
N1
大空
oozora
heaven, the sky
N1
大幅
oohaba
full width, large scale, drastic
Kanji