Honorific titles
From OSWIKI
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Common Honorifics
San
San (さん?) is the most common honorific and is used when addressing persons outside one's immediate family and close circle of friends—non-family members and acquaintances, for example. San is used unless the addressee's status or the relationship with the addressee warrants one of the other terms mentioned below. Although in translation san is usually rendered as a common courtesy title like “Mr.” or “Ms.”, unlike these it is never used in self-reference.
San may also be used in combination with nouns describing the addressee or referent other than the person's name; for example, a bookseller might be addressed or referred to as honya-san ("bookseller" + san) and a butcher, as nikuya-san ("butcher" + san).
Kun
Kun (君?) is an informal and intimate honorific primarily used towards males (it is still used towards females, but rarely). It is used by persons of senior status in addressing those of junior status, by males of roughly the same age and status when addressing each other, and by anyone in addressing male children. In business settings, women, particularly young women, may also be addressed as kun by older males of senior status. It is sometimes used towards male pets as well.
Schoolteachers typically address male students using kun, while female students are addressed as san or chan. The use of kun to address male children is similar to the use of san when addressing adults. In other words, not using kun would be considered rude in most situations, but, like the rule for using san in reference to family members, kun is traditionally not used when addressing or referring to one's own child (unless kun is part of a nickname: "Akira-kun"—Akkun).
Chan
Chan (ちゃん?) is a diminutive suffix used to refer to or address children, animals, lovers, intimate friends, and people whom one has known since childhood. It is an informal version of "san" used to address children and female family members. "Chan" continues to be used as a term of endearment, especially for girls, into adulthood. Parents will probably always call their daughters "chan" and their sons "kun," though "chan" can be used towards boys just as easily. Adults will use "chan" as a term of endearment to women with whom they are on close terms. Chan is used more among women than men and requires considerable intimacy to be used with adults with whom one has not known for an extended period of time or since their childhood. Furthermore, attaching chan to a modified stem is more intimate than attaching it to the full form of the basic name.
Chan is also used for pets' names and when referring to animals, such as usagi-chan (or, more frequently, usa-chan: rabbit+chan) or when speaking to small children. The Japanese media use chan when mentioning pre-elementary school children and sometimes elementary-school girls.
Sempai
Sempai is used to illustrate someone of slightly greater hierarchal order than you. It is most commonly used in reference to a student of higher grade level.
Formal Honorifics
Sensei
Sensei (先生?) is used to refer to or address teachers, practitioners of a profession such as doctors and lawyers, politicians, 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. Sensei is unusual among the suffixes discussed here in that it can be used not only as a suffix, but a term in itself, translating to "Professor" or "Teacher".
Shi
Shi is an intermediate that falls between san and sama.
Sama
Sama (様?) is the formal version of san. This honorific is used primarily in addressing persons much higher in rank than oneself. Additionally, Japanese Christians will refer to God in prayer as Kami-sama. People will also affix sama to the names of personages who are considered particularly attractive, though this usage can also be tongue-in-cheek, exaggerated, or even ironic. Examples include "Tanaka-sama" to refer to a young man named Tanaka who is considered rather handsome by his admirers.
Dono/Tono
Dono and tono (both written 殿) roughly mean "lord". This title is rarely used in conversation -- This form of dono is used by a powerful/important person to address another powerful/important person with a great deal of respect without elevating the addressee above the addresser. This is sometimes used to say "Sir of Madam" though the term is a bit stronger than the typical use of Sir or Madam.
Royal and Official Honorifics
Denka
Denka (殿下?) is affixed to the end of a royal title, with a meaning similar to "Royal Highness" or "Majesty".
Heika
Heika (陛下?) is affixed to the end of a royal title, with a meaning similar to "Majesty".
Kakka
Kakka (閣下?) means "Your Excellency" and is used for ambassadors and heads of state.
Hime
Hime (姫?) is used as an honorific if one is addressing a princess. Hime may also be used as a direct address, akin to calling a person simply "Princess". To convey even greater respect, the honorific sama will be added to both the title and the honorific. Using the "o" prefix honorific ("Ohimesama") conveys the greatest amount of respect.
Renaming Practices
Renaming
It is very common for Japanese to use the first syllable of someone's name and combine it with a suffix. For example, "Mi-chan" could be the short-form of Miki, Michiko, Miko, Misa, Minato, Mickey, Minnie, etc.
Combinations
Suffixes can also be combined in a more or less humoristical manner, like "-chama" (chan + sama), as in "obaa-chama" for "grand-mother", which is both affectionate and respectful.
Impolite Suffixes
Other less polite suffixes also exist. Their intensity depend a lot on the intonation and context, like "-baka" 馬鹿, or the ever ruder "-yarou" 野郎 (and combination "bakayarou", which is however normally used alone as an insult). So, "kyaku-yarou" would be a very impolite way of talking about a customer someone strongly dislikes. These can also be used individually, like in "ano yarou !" ("this a*shole !") or "baka !" ("mor@n" !)
