乙
おつ · otsu · JLPT N1 · noun
rank
🥈 Comes right after 甲 (first) in the list 甲乙丙丁, so 乙 means second
甲, 乙, 丙, 丁 are the first four Heavenly Stems, used like A, B, C, D in ranking. 乙 is the second, so おつ marks second place.
乙 — single stroke pictograph
乙 is an ancient pictograph traditionally said to depict a sprout bending as it pushes through soil, or alternatively a curved fish or bird form. It became the second of the ten Heavenly Stems, used for ordering and enumeration. Today it mostly survives in that ordinal sense and as a stroke-name.