Something Precious or Valuable (#1)

 

てぇてぇ teetee is a slang word that is a variation of とうとい totoi or たっとい tattoi, which is written in Japanese as 尊い and means precious or valuable.

Since it's originally Internet slang, it is used only with those who are close to you and have common interests.

It's commonly used on social media and in everyday conversations among Japanese pop culture enthusiasts, including fans of anime and manga.

It might be less familiar to seniors who aren't well-versed in pop culture.

It's used like sighing or talking to yourself, but not casually with anyone like a greeting.

When Should You Use the Word てぇてぇ?

You can use てぇてぇ when you are impressed by something that exceeds your expectations or when you encounter a rare and precious scene that you don't often come across.

It is often used in the same or more positive sense as the words やばい yabai  (awesome) or かわいい kawaii (cute).
落書きしちゃった
rakugaki shichatta
　
てぇてぇ
teetee
Translation落書きしちゃった: I doodled.
てぇてぇ: So cute.

Various Ways to Use

てぇてぇ is used in a variety of situations.

For instance, anime fans can use it to express their delight when they witness a warm relationship between anime characters.

The following illustrations are my original characters, あさな Asana (right) and ゆうな Yuna (left).
When you see your favorite characters getting along well with each other, you can say "てぇてぇ" to express your envy.

Idol fans can also use it when they see their favorite idol's smile and feel a strong emotional attraction.

If your eyes meet those of your favorite idols at an event, and the idol smiles at you, you might just let out a "てぇてぇ" from your mouth.

Sometimes Used as a Suffix

For example, you can combine ありがてぇ ariga-tee and てぇてぇ to create ありがてぇてぇ arigateetee, or combine めでてぇ mede-tee and てぇてぇ to form めでてぇてぇ medeteetee.

ありがてぇ and めでてぇ are informal variations of saying ありがたい ariga-tai (precious) and めでたい mede-tai (valuable), respectively.

Both ありがてぇ|ありがたい and めでてぇ|めでたい contain the meaning of 尊い totoi (precious or valuable), so they are a very compatible combination.

The words ありがとう ariga-to (thank you) and おめでとう omede-to (congratulations) are based on ありがたい and おめでたい, respectively.

So, instead of saying ありがとう, you can say ありがてえてぇ, and instead of saying おめでとう omedeto, you can say おめでてぇてぇ, which also makes sense.

When Did the Word てぇてぇ Appear?

The trigger for the spread of てぇてぇ is said to be a specific post on Twitter (now known as X), dated March 19, 2018.

The post was a four-frame manga by manga artist @natanakane (中音ナタ Nakane Nata), featuring two VTubers (VTuber is a shorter way of saying virtual YouTuber).

In the final frame, Son Goku says てぇてぇなあ teetee-naa while gazing at the two VTubers, who are close friends.

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