The Japanese language makes use of honorific suffixes when referring to others in a conversation. These suffixes are attached to the end of names, and are often gender-neutral. Honorific suffixes also indicate the level of the speaker and referred individual's relationship and are often used alongside other components of Japanese honorific speech, called keigo (??).
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Usage
Although honorifics are not part of the basic grammar of the Japanese language, they are a fundamental part of the sociolinguistics of Japanese, and proper use is essential to proficient and appropriate speech. Referring to oneself using an honorific, or dropping an honorific when it is required, is a serious faux pas, in either case coming across as clumsy or arrogant.
They can be applied to either the first or last name depending on which is given. In situations where both the first and last names are spoken, the suffix is attached to whichever comes last in the word order.
An honorific is generally used when referring to the person one is talking to (one's interlocutor), or when referring to an unrelated third party in speech. It is dropped, however, by some superiors, when referring to one's in-group, or in formal writing, and is never used to refer to oneself, except for dramatic effect, or some exceptional cases.
Dropping the honorific suffix when referring to one's interlocutor, which is known as to yobisute (????), implies a high degree of intimacy and is generally reserved for one's spouse, younger family members, social inferiors (as in a teacher addressing students in traditional arts), and very close friends. Within sports teams or among classmates, where the interlocutors approximately have the same age or seniority, it can be acceptable to use family names without honorifics. Some people of the younger generation, roughly born since 1970, prefer to be referred to without an honorific. However, dropping honorifics is a sign of informality even with casual acquaintances.
When referring to a third person, honorifics are used except when referring to one's family members while talking to a non-family member, or when referring to a member of one's company while talking to a customer or someone from another company--this is the uchi-soto (in-group/out group) distinction. Honorifics are not used to refer to oneself, except when trying to be arrogant (ore-sama), to be cute (-chan), or sometimes when talking to young children to teach them how to address the speaker.
Use of honorifics is correlated with other forms of honorific speech in Japanese, such as use of the polite form (-masu, desu) versus the plain form--using the plain form with a polite honorific (-san, -sama) can be jarring, for instance.
While these honorifics are solely used on proper nouns, these suffixes can turn common nouns into proper nouns when attached to the end of them. This can be seen on words such as ???? ("neko-chan") which turns the common noun neko (cat) into a proper noun which would refer solely to that particular cat, while adding the honorific -chan can also mean cute or small.
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Translation
When translating honorific suffixes into English, separate pronouns or adjectives must be used in order to convey characteristics to the person they are referencing as well. While some honorifics such as "-san" are very frequently used due to their gender neutrality and very simple definition of polite unfamiliarity, other honorifics such as "-chan" or "-kun" are more specific as to the context in which they must be used as well as the implications they give off when attached to a person's name. These implications can only be translated into English using either adjectives or adjective word phrases.
Common honorifics
San
San (??) (sometimes pronounced han (??) in Kansai dialect) is the most commonplace honorific and is a title of respect typically used between equals of any age. Although the closest analog in English are the honorifics "Mr.", "Miss", "Ms.", or "Mrs.", -san is almost universally added to a person's name; "-san" can be used in formal and informal contexts and for any gender. Because it is the most common honorific, it is also the most often used to convert common nouns into proper ones, as seen below.
San may be used in combination with workplace nouns, so a bookseller might be addressed or referred to as honya-san ("bookstore" + san) and a butcher as nikuya-san ("butcher's shop" + san).
San is sometimes used with company names. For example, the offices or shop of a company called Kojima Denki might be referred to as "Kojima Denki-san" by another nearby company. This may be seen on small maps often used in phone books and business cards in Japan, where the names of surrounding companies are written using san.
San can be attached to the names of animals or even inanimate objects. For example, a pet rabbit might be called usagi-san, and fish used for cooking can be referred to as sakana-san, but both would be considered childish (akin to "Mr. Fish" or "Mr. Fishy" to equivalate in English) and would be avoided in formal speech. Married people often refer to their spouse with san.
Due to -san being gender neutral and commonly used, it can be used to refer to people who are not close or whom one does not know. However, it may not be appropriate when using it on someone who is close or when it is clear that other honorifics should be used.
Online, Japanese gamers often append a numeral 3 to another player's name to denote san (e.g., Taro3 conveys Taro-san), since the number three is also pronounced san.
Sama
Sama (?????) is a more respectful version for people of a higher rank than oneself, toward one's guests or customers (such as a sports venue announcer addressing members of the audience), and sometimes toward people one greatly admires. It is seemingly said to be the origin word for "-san" but there is no major evidence otherwise. Deities such as the native Shinto kami and the Christian God, are referred to as kami-sama, meaning "Revered spirit-sama". When used to refer to oneself, sama expresses extreme arrogance (or self-effacing irony), as in praising one's self to be of a higher rank, as with ore-sama (??, "my esteemed self").
Sama customarily follows the addressee's name on postal packages and letters and in business email.
Sama also appears in such set phrases as omachid? sama ("thank you for waiting") or otsukare sama ("thank you for a good job").
With the exception of the Emperor of Japan, sama can be used to informally address the Empress and other members of the Imperial Family. The Emperor is, however, always addressed as Heika (Your Majesty). (See "Royal and official titles" below).
Kun
Kun (?????) is generally used by people of senior status addressing or referring to those of junior status, by anyone addressing or it can be used when referring to men in general, male children or male teenagers, or among male friends. It can be used by males or females when addressing a male whom they are emotionally attached to or have known for a long time. Although it may seem rude in workplaces, the suffix is also used by juniors when referring to seniors in both academic situations and workplaces, more typically when the two people are associated.
Although kun is generally used for boys, it is not a hard rule. For example, kun can be used to name a close personal friend or family member of any gender. In business settings, young female employees are addressed as kun by older males of senior status. It can be used by male teachers addressing their female students.
'Kun' can mean different things depending on the gender. "Kun" for females is a more respectful name than calling them cute. Kun is not only used to address females formally; it can also be used for a very close friend or family member. Calling a female 'Kun' is not insulting, and can also mean that the person is respected, although that is not the normal implication. Sisters with the same name, such as 'Miku,' may be differentiated by calling one 'Miku~Chan' and the other 'Miku~San' or 'Sama,' and on some occasions 'Kun.' 'Chan' and 'Kun' sometimes mean similar things. General use of 'Kun' means "sweet and kind."
In the National Diet (Legislature), the Speaker of the House uses kun when addressing Diet members and ministers. An exception was when Takako Doi was the Speaker of the lower house, where she used the title san.
Chan
Chan (???) is a diminutive suffix; it expresses that the speaker finds a person endearing. It is seemingly said to have come from a "cute" pronouncing of -san (in Japanese, replacing s sounds with ch sounds is seen as cute), although there is no evidence otherwise as this suffix has been used since the early days of ancient Japan. In general, chan is used for babies, young children, friends, grandparents and adolescents. It may also be used towards cute animals, lovers, close friends, any youthful woman, or between friends. Using chan with a superior's name is considered to be condescending and rude.
Although traditionally, honorifics are not applied to oneself, some people adopt the childish affectation of referring to themselves in the third person using chan (childish because it suggests that one has not learned to distinguish between names used for oneself and names used by others). For example, a young woman named Kanako might call herself Kanako-chan rather than using a first person pronoun. "Chan" is only used between people who have known each other for a long time or who are of the same gender. Otherwise, using this for someone, especially adults, only known for a short period of time, can be seen as offensive.
Tan
Tan (??) is an even more cute or affectionate variant of "chan". It evokes a small child's mispronunciation of that form of address, or baby talk - similar to how, for example, a speaker of English might use "widdle" instead of "little" when speaking to a baby. Moe anthropomorphisms are often labeled as "-tan", e.g., the commercial mascot Habanero-tan, the manga figure Afghanis-tan or the OS-tans representing operating systems.
B?
B? (?????) is another diminutive that expresses endearment. Like "chan", it is used for babies or young children, but is exclusively used for boys instead of girls.
Senpai and k?hai
Senpai (????????) is used to address or refer to one's elder colleagues in a school, dojo, or sports club. So at school, the students in higher grades than oneself are senpai. Teachers are not senpai, but rather they are "Sensei." Neither are students of the same or lower grade: they are referred to as k?hai. In a business environment, those with more experience are senpai.
Sensei and hakase
Sensei (????????) (literally meaning "former-born") is used to refer to or address teachers, doctors, politicians, lawyers, and other authority figures. It is used to show respect to someone who has achieved a certain level of mastery in an art form or some other skill, such as accomplished novelists, musicians, artists and martial artists. In Japanese martial arts, sensei typically refers to someone who is the head of a dojo. As with senpai, sensei can be used not only as a suffix, but also as a stand-alone title. The term is not generally used when addressing a person with very high academic expertise; the one used instead is hakase (???????) (lit. "Doctor" or "PhD").
Sensei can be used fawningly, and it can also be employed sarcastically to ridicule such fawning. The Japanese media invoke it (rendered in katakana, akin to scare quotes or italics in English) to highlight the megalomania of those who allow themselves to be sycophantically addressed with the term.
Shi
Shi (????) is used in formal writing, and sometimes in very formal speech, for referring to a person who is unfamiliar to the speaker, typically a person known through publications whom the speaker has never actually met. For example, the shi title is common in the speech of newsreaders. It is preferred in legal documents, academic journals, and certain other formal written styles. Once a person's name has been used with shi, the person can be referred to with shi alone, without the name, as long as there is only one person being referred to.
Other titles
It is common to use a job title after someone's name, instead of using a general honorific. For example, an athlete (??, senshu) named Ichiro might be referred to as "Ichiro-senshu" rather than "Ichiro-san", and a master carpenter (??, t?ry?) named Suzuki might be referred to as "Suzuki-t?ry?" rather than "Suzuki-san".
In a business setting, it is common to refer to people using their rank, especially for positions of authority, such as department chief (??, buch?) or company president (??, shach?). Within one's own company or when speaking of another company, title + san is used, so a president is shach?-san. When speaking of one's own company to a customer or another company, the title is used by itself or attached to a name, so a department chief named Suzuki is referred to as Buch? or Suzuki-buch?.
However, when referring to oneself, the title is used indirectly, as using it directly is perceived as arrogant. Thus, a department chief named Suzuki will introduce themselves as ????? Buch?-no-Suzuki, rather than ×???? *Suzuki-buch?.
For criminals and the accused
Convicted and suspected criminals were once referred to without any title, but now an effort is made to distinguish between suspects (???, y?gisha), defendants (??, hikoku), and convicts (???, jukeisha), so as not to presume guilt before anything has been proven. These titles can be used by themselves or attached to names.
However, although "suspect" and "defendant" began as neutral descriptions, they have become derogatory over time. When actor and musician Gor? Inagaki was arrested for a traffic accident in 2001, some media referred him with the newly made title menb? (????), originating from the English word member, to avoid use of y?gisha (???, suspect). But in addition to being criticized as an unnatural term, this title also became derogatory almost instantly--an example of euphemism treadmill.
For companies
There are several different words for "our company" and "your company". "Our company" can be expressed with the humble heisha (??, "clumsy/poor company") or the neutral jisha (??, "our own company"), and "your company" can be expressed with the honorific kisha (??, "noble company", used in writing) or onsha (??, "honorable company", used in speech). Additionally, the neutral t?sha (??, "this company") can refer to either the speaker's or the listener's company. All of these titles are used by themselves, not attached to names.
When mentioning a company's name, it is considered important to include its status depending on whether it is incorporated (????, kabushikigaisha) or limited (????, y?gen gaisha). These are often abbreviated as ? and ? respectively.
Dono/tono
Tono (?????), pronounced dono (??) when attached to a name, roughly means "lord" or "master". It does not equate noble status; rather it is a term akin to "milord" or French "monseigneur", and lies below sama in level of respect. This title is not commonly used in daily conversation, but it is still used in some types of written business correspondence, as well as on certificates and awards, and in written correspondence in tea ceremonies. It is/was also used to indicate that the person referred to has the same (high) rank as the referrer, yet commands respect from the speaker.
No kimi
No kimi (??) is another suffix coming from Japanese history. It was used to denominate Lords and Ladies in the Court, especially during the Heian period. The most famous example is the Prince Hikaru Genji, protagonist of The Tale of Genji who was called "Hikaru no Kimi "(???). Nowadays, this suffix can be used as a metaphor for someone who behaves like a prince or princess from ancient times, but its use is very rare. Its main usage remains in historical dramas.
This suffix also appears when addressing lovers in letters from a man to a woman, as in, "Murasaki no kimi" or "My beloved Ms. Murasaki".
Ue
Ue (?) literally means "above", and denotes a high level of respect. While its use is no longer common, it is still seen in constructions like chichi-ue (??), haha-ue (??) and ane-ue (??), reverent terms for "father", "mother" and "sister" respectively. Receipts that do not require specification of the payer's name are often filled in with ue-sama.
Royal and official titles
- Heika (??) is used for sovereign royalty, similar to "Majesty" in English. For example, Tenn? Heika (????) means "His Majesty the Emperor", which is used to address the Emperor of Japan, and K?g? Heika (????) means "Her Majesty the Empress", used to address the Empress. Koku? Heika (????) means "His Majesty the King", and Jo? Heika (????) means "Her Majesty the Queen". Heika by itself can be used as a direct term of address, equivalent to "Your Majesty".
- Denka (??) is used for non-sovereign royalty, similar to "Highness". For example, Kako Naishinn? Denka (???????, "Her Imperial Highness, Princess Kako of Akishino"), and Suw?den ?koku, Vikutoria ?taishi Denka (???????????????????, "Her Royal Highness, Crown Princess Victoria of the Kingdom of Sweden"). Denka can be used by itself, equivalent to "Your Highness."
- Hidenka (???) is used for addressing the consort of a prince, and is used the same way as the other royal titles.
- Kakka (??) means "Excellency", and is used for heads of state (except those addressed by Heika or Denka), heads of government including the Prime Minister of Japan, cabinet ministers, ambassadors and other high-rank officials such as the Secretary-General of the United Nations, or for generals in an army. It can be used by itself or attached to a specific title like other royal titles.
- Dait?ry? (???) means "President", and is used for any national president, such as the President of the United States. It is most commonly attached to a name. For example, Obama-Dait?ry? (??????, "President Obama").
Martial arts titles
Martial artists often address their teachers as sensei. Junior and senior students are organized via a senpai/k?hai system. Also in some systems of karate, O-Sensei is the title of the (deceased) head of the style. This is how the founder of Aikido, Morihei Ueshiba is often referred to by practitioners of that art. The 'O' prefix itself, translating roughly as "great[er]" or "major," is also an honorific.
Various titles are also employed to refer to senior instructors. Which titles are used depends on the particular licensing organization.
Sh?g?
Sh?g? (??, "title", "name", "degree") are martial arts titles developed by the Dai Nippon Butoku Kai, the Kokusai Budoin and the International Martial Arts Federation Europe. Many organizations in Japan award such titles upon a sincere study and dedication of Japanese martial arts. The below mentioned titles are awarded after observing a person's martial arts skills, his/her ability of teaching and understanding of martial arts and the most importantly as a role model and the perfection of one's character.
- Renshi (?? : ???): Polished Instructor. (Skilled person or expert teacher) Awarded to 4th Dan and above.
- Ky?shi (?? : ????) refers to an advanced teacher. (Senior Teacher/Expert). Awarded to 6th Dan and above.
- Hanshi (?? : ???) refers to a senior expert considered a "teacher of teachers". This title is used by many different arts for the top few instructors of that style, and is sometimes translated "Grand Master". Awarded to 8th Dan and above.
- Meijin (??): awarded by a special board of examiners.
Other martial arts titles
- Oyakata (?? : ????), master, especially a sumo coach. The literal sense is of someone in loco parentis. Also used by the Yakuza. In ancient times, it was also used by samurai to address the Daimy? they serve, as he was Oyakata-sama, the clan's don.
- Shihan (??: ???), merely means chief instructor; unlike the titles above it is not related to grade.
- Shid?in (???:?????), intermediate instructor, also unrelated to grade.
- Shish? (??: ????) is another title used for martial arts instructors.
- Zeki (?: ??), literally "barrier", used for sumo wrestlers in the top two divisions (sekitori).
Levels of black belts sometimes used as martial arts titles
- Shodan - 1st dan
- Nidan - 2nd dan
- Sandan - 3rd dan
- Yodan - 4th dan
- Godan - 5th dan
- Rokudan - 6th dan
- Shichidan - 7th dan
- Hachidan - 8th dan
- Kudan - 9th dan
- J?dan - 10th dan
Other titles
- Shinpu (??: ???), Catholic priest (lit. Godfather). A Catholic priest (shisai (??: ???) (lit. minister of worship) receives this title.
- Bokushi (??: ???), Protestant priest. This title is given to a Protestant priest (shisai (??: ???)
Euphonic suffixes and wordplay
In informal speech, some Japanese people may use contrived suffixes in place of normal honorifics. This is essentially a form of wordplay, with suffixes being chosen for their sound, or for friendly or scornful connotations. Although the range of such suffixes that might be coined is limitless, some have gained such widespread usage that the boundary between established honorifics and wordplay has become a little blurred. Examples of such suffixes include variations on chan (see below), bee (scornful), and rin (friendly). Note that unlike a proper honorific, use of such suffixes is governed largely by how they sound in conjunction with a particular name, and on the effect the speaker is trying to achieve.
Baby talk variations
Some honorifics have baby talk versions--mispronunciations stereotypically associated with small children and cuteness, and more frequently used in popular entertainment than in everyday speech. The baby talk version of sama is chama (???).
There are even baby talk versions of baby talk versions. Chan can be changed to tan (??), and less often, chama (???) to tama (??).
Familial honorifics
Words for family members have two different forms in Japanese. When referring to one's own family members while speaking to a non-family-member, neutral, descriptive nouns are used, such as haha (?) for "mother" and ani (?) for "older brother". When addressing one's own family members or addressing or referring to someone else's family members, honorific forms are used. Using the suffix -san, as is most common, "mother" becomes ok?san (????) and "older brother" becomes oniisan (????). The honorifics -chan and -sama may also be used instead of -san, to express a higher level of closeness or reverence, respectively.
The general rule is that a younger family member (e.g., a young brother) addresses an older family member (e.g., a big brother) using an honorific form, while the older family member calls the younger one only by name.
The honorific forms are:
- Ot?san (????): father. The descriptive noun is chichi (?).
- Ojisan (????/????/????): uncle, or also "middle-aged gentleman".
- Ojiisan (?????/????/????/?????): grandfather, or also "male senior-citizen".
- Ok?san (????): mother. The descriptive noun is haha (?).
- Obasan (????/????/????): aunt, or also "middle-aged lady".
- Ob?san (?????/?????/????/????): grandmother, or also "female senior-citizen".
- Oniisan (????): big brother, or also "a young gentleman". The descriptive noun is ani (?).
- On?san (????): big sister, or also "a young lady". The descriptive noun is ane (?).
The initial o- (?) in these nouns is itself an honorific prefix. In more casual situations the speaker may omit this prefix but will keep the suffix.
- Niichan (????) or Niisan (???): when a young sibling addresses his or her own "big brother".
- N?chan (????) or N?san (???): when a young sibling addresses his or her own "big sister".
- K?san (???): when a man addresses his own "wife" (the "mother" of their children).
- T?san (???): when a woman addresses her own "husband" (the "father" of their children)
- B?chan (?????): when grandchildren address their "grandma".
- Jiichan (?????): when grandchildren address their "grandpa".
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