A rotary compressor comprising: a hermetic container having an oil reservoir; a cylinder placed in the hermetic container; a piston placed in the cylinder; an end plate member mounted on the cylinder to form a cylinder chamber between the cylinder and the piston; a vane which partitions the cylinder chamber into a suction chamber and a discharge chamber; a suction port for guiding refrigerant to be compressed into the suction chamber; a discharge port which is formed in the end plate member and which discharges compressed refrigerant from the discharge chamber and a zone which is provided on the end plate member and which forms, together with the end plate member, a refrigerant discharge space in which the refrigerant discharged from the discharge chamber through the discharge port can stay; wherein the discharge port is provided with a discharge valve which restrains the refrigerant from reversely flowing from the refrigerant discharge space into the discharge chamber, characterized in that the end plate member is provided with a recess on the same side as the suction port as viewed from a reference plane which includes a center of the vane and a center axis of the cylinder when the vane most projects toward the center axis of the cylinder, and a portion of oil stored in the oil reservoir enters the recess, thereby forming an oil retaining section, and a thick section of a portion of the end plate member between the refrigerant discharge space and the cylinder chamber is made thicker than a minimum thick section of the end plate member between the oil retaining section and the cylinder chamber. a hermetic container having an oil reservoir; a cylinder placed in the hermetic container; a piston placed in the cylinder; an end plate member mounted on the cylinder to form a cylinder chamber between the cylinder and the piston; a vane which partitions the cylinder chamber into a suction chamber and a discharge chamber; a suction port for guiding refrigerant to be compressed into the suction chamber; a discharge port which is formed in the end plate member and which discharges compressed refrigerant from the discharge chamber and a zone which is provided on the end plate member and which forms, together with the end plate member, a refrigerant discharge space in which the refrigerant discharged from the discharge chamber through the discharge port can stay; wherein the discharge port is provided with a discharge valve which restrains the refrigerant from reversely flowing from the refrigerant discharge space into the discharge chamber, characterized in that the end plate member is provided with a recess on the same side as the suction port as viewed from a reference plane which includes a center of the vane and a center axis of the cylinder when the vane most projects toward the center axis of the cylinder, and a portion of oil stored in the oil reservoir enters the recess, thereby forming an oil retaining section, and a thick section of a portion of the end plate member between the refrigerant discharge space and the cylinder chamber is made thicker than a minimum thick section of the end plate member between the oil retaining section and the cylinder chamber.