Home > Japanese honorifics

Honorifics are similar to English titles like " sir" and " ma'am," but in Japanese, which has many honorifics, their use is mandatory in many social situations.

1 Examples of honorifics in Japanese

Honorifics in Japanese may be used to emphasise social distance or disparity in rank, or to emphasise social intimacy or similarity in rank (see uchi-soto).

In Japanese, honorifics are always placed after the name.

• -san (さん). -San is the most common honorific, and its use is mandatory when addressing most social outsiders (for example, non-family members). -San is used unless it is superceded by some other title, and is often translated as "Mr.", "Ms.", "Mrs.", and the like, though such a translation is not always accurate. -San is the Japanese honorific most familiar to non-Japanese people. -San may also be used to create other titles; a bookseller might be addressed as "honya-san" (roughly, "Mr. bookseller").
  • -han (はん). -Han is the equivalent to -san in the Kansai dialect.

• -kun (くん，君). -Kun is an informal and intimate honorific primarily used by superiors in addressing inferiors, usually male (though in some cases it can be used for women also). Schoolteachers typically address male students using -kun. -Kun is also used among friends of similar social standing, and by parents and relatives to address older male children (instead of -chan).

• -chan (ちゃん). -Chan is the informal, intimate, diminutive equivalent of -san, used primarily by children to refer to friends and family members but also applied to siblings, to close friends and lovers, and to children by adults.

• -sama (様). -Sama is the most formal honorific used in daily conversation in Japanese. It is used primarily in addressing persons much higher in rank than oneself (as long as some other title is unavailable), and is used in commercial and business settings to address and refer to customers. (See uchi-soto for a more in-depth analysis). -Sama is also used after the addressee's name on postal packages and letters, again provided it is not superceded by some other title.

1.1 Rarer forms

• -dono or -tono (どの). -Dono/-tono roughly means "lord." It is no longer used in daily conversation, though it is still seen on certificates and awards.

• -ue (上). -Ue literally means "above" and, appropriately, denotes a high level of respect. While its use is not longer very common, it is still seen in constructions like 父上 (chichi-ue) and 母上 (haha-ue), reverent terms for one's own, or someone else's, father and mother, respectively.

1.1 O- and go-

O- and go- are honorific prefixes which are applied to nouns (and sometimes to verbs, particularly when using keigo). Go- prefixes words which have a Chinese-derived pronunciation, while o- prefixes words with a Japanese-derived pronunciation.

There are some words which frequently or always take these prefixes, regardless of who is speaking and to whom; these are ordinary items which are considered to have particular significance, such as tea (o-cha) and rice (go-han). Honorific prefixes can be used for other items to comic or sarcastic effect (for example, o-kokakora, "honourable Coca-Cola"). Overuse of honorific prefixes may be taken as pretentious or simpering.

In tea ceremony, common ingredients and equipment frequently take the honorific o- or go-, including water (o-mizu), hot water (o-yu), and tea bowls (o-chawan).

The honorific prefixes are also used, as are the honorifics above, in polite conversation:

• Chumon: an order (at a restaurant); go-chumon: a customer's order
• Kazoku: my family; family; go-kazoku: your family, somone else's family

Some words do not fit the standard o-/go- pattern. Denwa, meaning telephone, is a Chinese-derived word, but is sometimes called o-denwa. English words have no pattern for taking honorific prefixes, but o- seems to be preferrable to go-. One example is o-biru, which can sometimes be heard at restaurants.