Japanese honorifics

Polite forms of address in Japanese

The Japanese language makes use of a system of honorific speech, called (敬称), which includes honorific suffixes and prefixes when referring to others in a conversation. Suffixes are often gender specific at the end of names, while prefixes are attached to the beginning of many nouns. Honorific suffixes also indicate the speaker's level and refer an individual's relationship and are often used alongside other components of Japanese honorific speech. Honorific suffixes are generally used when referring to the person one is talking to or unrelated people and are not used when referring to oneself. The omission of suffixes implies a high degree of intimacy or close friendship.

(さん), sometimes pronounced (はん) 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, regardless of the person's gender. It is also commonly used to convert common nouns into proper ones, as discussed below. San may be used in combination with workplace nouns, so a bookseller might be addressed or referred to as and a butcher as
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 for cooking; "fish" can be referred to as , but both would be considered childish (akin to "Mr. Fish" or "Mr. Fishy" in English) and would be avoided in formal speech. When referring to their spouse as a third party in a conversation, married people often refer to them with san. Due to san being gender neutral and commonly used, it can refer to any stranger or acquaintance whom one does not see as a friend. However, it may not be appropriate when using it on someone close or when it is clear that other honorifics should be used.

(様, さま) is a more respectful version for individuals of a higher rank than oneself. Appropriate usages include divine entities, guests or customers (such as a sports venue announcer addressing members of the audience), and sometimes towards people one greatly admires. It is the root word for san. Deities such as native Shinto kami and Jesus Christ are referred to as , meaning "Revered spirit sama". When used to refer to oneself, sama expresses extreme arrogance (or self effacing irony), as in praising oneself to be of a higher rank, as with (俺様). Sama customarily follows the addressee's name on all formal correspondence and postal services where the addressee is, or is interpreted as, a customer. Sama also appears in such set phrases as , , or .

(君【くん】) /k//ʊ//n/ is generally used by people of senior status addressing or referring to those of junior status, 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 to whom they are emotionally attached, or whom they have known for a long time. Although it may seem rude in workplaces, the suffix is also used by seniors when referring to juniors 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 gender. Kun for females is a more respectful honorific than chan, implying childlike cuteness. 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. Rarely, 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 occasionally mean similar things. The general use of kun for females implies respectful endearment and that the person being referred to is 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.

(ちゃん) expresses that the speaker finds a person endearing. In general, chan is used for young children, close friends, babies, grandparents and sometimes female adolescents. It may also be used towards cute animals, lovers, or youthful women. Chan is never used for strangers or people one has just met. Although traditionally, honorifics are not applied to oneself, some people adopt the childlike affectation of referring to themselves in the third person using chan (childlike because it suggests that one has not learned to distinguish between names used for oneself and names used by others). For example, a young girl named Kanako might call herself Kanako chan rather than the first person pronoun.

(たん) is intended as an even cuter 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. A more notorious use of the honorific was for the murderer Nevada tan.

(坊、ぼう) also expresses endearment. Like chan, it can be used for young children but exclusively for boys instead of girls. See diminutive and hypocorism for more info on this linguistic phenomenon.

(先輩、せんぱい) is used to address or refer to one's older or more senior colleagues and students in a school, workplace, dojo, or sports club. Teachers are not senpai, but rather they are sensei. Neither are students of the same or lower grade: they are referred to but never addressed as (後輩、こうはい). In a business environment, those with more experience are senpai.

(先生、せんせい) 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 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 (博士【はかせ】).

(氏、し) 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 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 only one person is being referred to.

O (お ) and go (ご ) are honorific prefixes used to exalt nouns. They can be applied to things like a garden (お庭, oniwa) or to people in conjunction with a suffix, like a doctor (お医者さん, oishasan). O is used for words with Japanese roots, while go is used for words with Chinese roots, For example, a 1986 study on the notion that Japanese women spoke more politely than men examined each sex's use of honorifics found that while women spoke more politely on average than men, both sexes used the same level of politeness in the same relative situation. Thus, the difference in politeness was a result of the average social station of women versus men as opposed to an inherent characteristic. Usage in this respect has changed over time as well. A 2012 study from Kobe Shoin Women's University found that the use of honorific suffixes and other polite speech markers have increased significantly over time, while age, sex, and other social variables have become less significant. The paper concluded that honorifics have shifted from a basis in power dynamics to one of personal distance. 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. Japanese names traditionally follow the Eastern name 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. However, it is dropped by some superiors when referring to one's in group or informal writing. It is never used to refer to oneself, except for dramatic effect or some exceptional cases. Usually, when talking to one's interlocutor, it would be disconnected or even rude to refer to that person as 'you' if you know their name. It would be expected for you to refer to them by their name and respective honorifics. Dropping the honorific suffix when referring to one's interlocutor, which is known as to (呼び捨て), 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), close friends and confidants. Within sports teams or among classmates, where the interlocutors approximately are of the same age or seniority, it can be acceptable to use family names without honorifics. Although the monarch of Japan is an emperor, he is not usually styled as "Imperial Majesty", however other members of the imperial family are customarily styled "His/Her Imperial Highness" whilst the Emperor's style in English is simply "His Majesty".

(殿 との), pronounced (どの) when attached to a name, roughly means "lord" or "master". It does not imply noble status. Rather it is a term akin to "milord" or French "monseigneur" or Portuguese/Spanish/Italian "don", 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 tea ceremonies. It is also used to indicate that the person referred to has the same (high) rank as the referrer, yet commands respect from the speaker.

(の君) 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 (光の君). 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 .

(上) literally means "above", and denotes a high level of respect. While its use is no longer common, it is still seen in constructions like (父上), (母上) and (姉上), reverent terms for "father", "mother" and "older sister" respectively. Receipts that do not require specification of the payer's name are often filled in with ue sama.

Martial artists often address their teachers as sensei｜｜先生. Junior and senior students are organized via a 後輩 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.

(称号) 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, their ability of teaching and understanding of martial arts and the most importantly as a role model and the perfection of one's character. (錬士【れんし】): Polished Instructor (skilled person or expert teacher) Awarded to 4th dan and above. (教士【きょうし】) refers to an advanced teacher (senior teacher/expert). Awarded to 6th dan and above. (範士【はんし】) 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. (名人): awarded by a special board of examiners.

(神父，しんぷ), Orthodox or Catholic priest (lit. Godfather). A Catholic priest (司祭，しさい) receives this title. (牧師，ぼくし), Protestant minister. This title is given to a Protestant minister (司祭，しさい).

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). 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.

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 (ちゃま). There are even baby talk versions of baby talk versions. Chan can be changed to (たん), and less often, (ちゃま) to (たま).