Translation guide
A small piece of paper with a re-adherable strip of adhesive on the back, used for temporary notes.
The physical object: a small, usually square, piece of paper with a sticky back for temporary notes.
The most common and natural word for a sticky note. It can refer to any small adhesive note, including the brand-name product.
付箋にメモを書いて、パソコンに貼った。
I wrote a note on a sticky note and stuck it on my computer.
この付箋は粘着力が弱い。
This sticky note doesn't stick well.
The genericized trademark 'Post-it'. Very widely understood, but 付箋 is more neutral.
ポストイットを机の上に置いておいてください。
Please leave a Post-it note on the desk.
Literally 'sticky note paper'. More formal or technical, often used in office supply contexts.
A virtual sticky note in software or apps.
Also used for digital sticky notes, just like in English.
Do not translate 'sticky note' literally as 粘着性のメモ (nenchakusei no memo) or スティッキーノート (sutikkii nooto). These sound unnatural and are not used by native speakers.
In the meeting, we brainstormed ideas using sticky notes.
デスクトップに付箋を表示するアプリを使っている。
I use an app that shows sticky notes on the desktop.
Explicitly 'digital sticky note', used when distinguishing from physical ones.
このソフトにはデジタル付箋機能がついている。
This software has a digital sticky note feature.