Honorifics

An honorific is a title that conveys esteem, courtesy, or respect for position or rank when used in addressing or referring to a person. Sometimes, the term "honorific" is used in a more specific sense to refer to an honorary academic title. It is also often conflated with systems of honorific speech in linguistics, which are grammatical or morphological ways of encoding the relative social status of speakers. Honorifics can be used as prefixes or suffixes depending on the appropriate occasion and presentation in accordance with style and customs.

Typically, honorifics are used as a style in the grammatical third person, and as a form of address in the second person. Use in the first person, by the honored dignitary, is uncommon or considered very rude and egotistical. Some languages have anti-honorific (''despective'' or ''humilific'') first person forms (expressions such as "your most humble servant" or "this unworthy person") whose effect is to enhance the relative honor accorded to the person addressed.

Modern English honorifics

The most common honorifics in modern English are usually placed immediately before a person's name. Honorifics used (both as style and as form of address) include, in the case of a man, "Mr." (irrespective of marital status), and, in the case of a woman, previously either of two depending on marital status: "Miss" if unmarried but " Mrs." if married; more recently, a third, "Ms.", became the more prevalent norm, mainly owing to the desire to avoid identifying women by their marital status. Further considerations regarding identifying people by gender currently are raised with varying prevalence and details; in some environments, honorifics such as Mx, Ind. or Misc. may be used often or occasionally so as not to identify people by gender or at least those so requesting but without to date having broad general prevalence. In some environments, the honorific "Mstr" may be used for a boy who has not yet entered adult society; similar to this, "Miss" may be considered appropriate for a girl but inappropriate for a woman (but unless parallel to "Mstr" the reasoning is not explicit). Note: all the above terms but "Miss" are written as abbreviations—most were originally abbreviations (e.g., from "Mister", "Mistress"), others may be considered as coined to directly parallel them for consistency. Abbreviations that include the initial and final letters (a type of contraction) are typically written in most English dialects (British English, Australian English, South African English as examples) without full stops ( periods) but in American English and Canadian English always end with a period.

Other honorifics may denote the honored person's occupation, for instance " Doctor", "Esquire", "Captain", "Coach", " Officer", "The Reverend" (for all Christian clergy) or "Father" (for a Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, or Anglican Christian priest), "Rabbi" for Jewish clergy, or Professor. Holders of an academic Doctorate such as PhD are addressed as "Doctor" (abbreviated Dr).

Some honorifics act as complete replacements for a name, as "Sir" or "Ma'am", or "Your Honour/Honor". Subordinates will often use honorifics as punctuation before asking a superior a question or after responding to an order: "Yes, sir" or even "Sir, yes, sir."

Judges are often addressed as "Your Honour/Honor" when on the bench, the plural form is "Your Honours" and the style is "His/Her Honour". If the judge has a higher title, that may be the correct honorific to use, for example, for High Court Judges in England: "Your Lordship" or "My Lord". Members of the U.S. Supreme Court are addressed as "Justice".

Similarly, a monarch ranking as a king/queen or emperor and his/her consort may be addressed or referred to as "Your/His/Her Majesty", "Their Majesties", etc. (but there is no customary honorific accorded to a female monarch's consort, as he is usually granted a specific style). Monarchs below kingly rank are addressed as "Your/His/Her Highness", the exact rank being indicated by an appropriate modifier, e.g. "His Serene Highness" for a member of a princely dynasty, or "Her Grand Ducal Highness" for a member of a family that reigns over a grand duchy. Verbs with these honorifics as subject are conjugated in the third person (e.g. "you are going" vs. "Your Honour is going" or "Her Royal Highness is going".) Protocol for monarchs and aristocrats can be very complex, with no general rule; great offence can be given by using a form that is not exactly correct. There are differences between "Your Highness" and "Your Royal Highness"; between "Princess Margaret" and "The Princess Margaret". All these are correct, but apply to people of subtly different rank. An example of a non-obvious style is "Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother", which was an official style, but unique to one person.

In music, a distinguished conductor or virtuoso instrumentalist may be known as "Maestro".

In aviation, pilots in command of a larger civil aircraft are usually addressed as "Captain" plus their full name or surname. This tradition is slowly diminishing in the United States and most European Union countries. However, many countries, especially in Asia, follow this tradition and address airline pilots, military pilots, and flight instructors exclusively as "Captain" even outside of the professional environment. In addition, such countries' etiquette rules dictate that this title must be placed on all the official letters and social invitations, business cards, identification documents, etc. In the U.S., when addressing a pilot, common etiquette does not require the title "Captain" to be printed on official letters or invitations before the addressee's full name. However, this is optional (akin to " Esq" after an attorney's name, in the U.S.) and may be used where appropriate, especially when addressing airline pilots with many years of experience.

Occupants of state and political office may be addressed with an honorific. A president may be addressed as Your Excellency or Mr/Madam President, a minister or secretary of state as "Your Excellency" or Mr/Madam Secretary, etc. A prime minister may be addressed as "the Honorable". In the UK, members of the Privy Council are addressed as "the Right Honourable...". A member of Parliament or other legislative body may have particular honorifics. A member of a Senate, for example, may be addressed as "Senator". The etiquette varies and most countries have protocol specifying the honorifics to be used for its state, judicial, military and other officeholders.

Former military officers are sometimes addressed by their last military rank, such as "Admiral", "Colonel", "General", etc. This is generally adopted only by those officers who served and at least obtained the rank equivalency of Major. In the U.S., veterans of all ranks who have served during wartime and were honorably discharged may 'bear the title' of the highest rank held, as codified in law, 10 USC 772e, both officer and enlisted.

Examples

* Your Highness
* Your Holiness
* Your Honor
* Your Grace
* Your Lordship
* Your Majesty
* Your Worship

Honorifics in other languages and cultures

Culturally specific usage

* Australian honorifics
* Canadian honorifics
* Chinese honorifics
* French honorifics
* German honorifics
* Honorifics in Judaism
* Indian honorifics
* Islamic honorifics
* Japanese honorifics
* Korean honorifics
* Kunya (Arabic)
* Thai royal ranks and titles
* Vietnamese honorifics

Africa

In areas of East Africa where the Bantu language Swahili is spoken, ''mzee'' is frequently used for an elder to denote respect by younger speakers. It is used in direct conversation and used in referring to someone in the third person. Other honorifics include ''mukubwa'' (for ministers, employers, and authorities), ''dada/kaka'' (for peers, friends, colleagues), and ''mama/baba'' (for parents and grandparents). Additionally, some Arabic loanwords are used in coastal regions as honorifics, too, such as ''ami'' (paternal uncle) and ''haloo'' (maternal aunt), the familial roles for which are more often described elsewhere in the Swahili-speaking world as ''baba mkubwa/mdogo'' (older/younger father) or ''mama mkubwa/mdogo'' (older/younger mother). Furthermore, parents are oftentimes addressed by a combination of their parental title and the name of a child, e.g. ''Baba Zekiyah'' refers to the father of Zekiyah. While Swahili is Bantu, it is highly influenced by Arabic and Hindi languages and cultures. ''Babu'' is a prefix honorific used with elders, similar to ''mzee'', but may also mean grandfather. Other prefix honorifics are ''ndugu'', for brother or a close male friend, and ''dada'' for a sister or close female friend; thus, John and Jane would be Ndugu John and Dada Jane, respectively.

Amongst the Akan ethnic groups of West Africa's Ghana, the word ''nana'' is used as an aristocratic pre-nominal by chiefs and elders alike.

In Yorubaland, also in West Africa, the word ''ogbeni'' is used as a synonym for the English "mister". Titled members of the region's aristocracy are therefore called ''oloye'' instead, this being the word for "chief". Although the former of the two titles is only used by men, aristocrats of either gender are addressed using the latter of them.

Ancient Rome

Some honorifics used by Ancient Romans, such as Augustus, turned into titles over time.

China

Chinese honorifics () and honorific language are words, word constructs, and expressions in the Chinese language that convey self-deprecation, social respect, politeness, or deference. During the ancient and imperial periods, Chinese honorifics varied greatly based on one's social status, but with the end of Imperial China, many of these distinctions fell out of favour due to the May Fourth Movement. As such, honorific usage today is mostly used in formal situations and business settings only. Although Chinese honorifics have simplified to a large degree, many classical constructs are still occasionally employed to convey formality, humility, politeness or respect. Honorific language in Chinese is achieved by using honorific or beautifying alternatives, prefixing or suffixing a word with a polite complement, or by dropping casual-sounding words.

In general, there are five distinct categories of honorific language:

* Respectful Language (), which is used when referring to others to show deference and politeness.
* Humble Language (), which is used when referring to oneself in a self-deprecating manner to show humbleness and humility.
* Indirect Language (), which is the use of euphemisms or tactful language to approach sensitive topics and show respect.
* Courteous Language (), which employs praising and laudatory words or phrases with the intent to flatter the addressee.
* Elegant Language (), which employs elegant and beautiful expressions and words in lieu of more casual words and phrases to describe people, objects, actions or concepts. It is often used on occasions where casual language may be deemed inappropriate. Due to the lack of equivalent expressions in English, translated phrases often do not convey the same sense of beauty or elegance.

India

Indian honorifics abound, covering formal and informal relationships for commercial, generational, social, and spiritual links. Honorifics may be prefix, suffix, or replacement types. There are many variations.

* ''Prefix type'': The most common honorifics in India are usually placed immediately before the name of the subject. Honorifics which can be used of any adult of the appropriate sex include '' Sri'' (also Romanised as ''Shri'', abbreviation of ''Sriman''), '' Smt'' (abbreviation of ''Srimati''), and '' Kum'' (abbreviation of ''Kumari''). In Punjab, ''Sardar'' is used for Sikh men and ''Sardarni'' for Sikh women. In Tamil, ''Thiru'' (abbreviation of ''Thiruvalar'' for men) and ''Thirumathi'' (for women) are used. In Telugu, Chi (abbreviation of 'chiranjeevi') is used for younger men and Chi.La.Sou (Chiranjeevini Lakshmi Soubhagyavathi) is prefixed for the names of younger women. In India, honorifics mostly come prior to the name of object.
* ''Replacement type'': Some honorifics, like ''Bhavān'' or ''Bhavatī'', act as complete replacements for a name. For example, in Gujarati, for an uncle who is your mother's brother, the replacement honorific ''maama'' (long "a" then short "a") is used, and a male friend will often earn the suffix honorific of ''bhai''.
* ''Suffix type'':
** The traditional Hindi honorific is the suffix ''-ji''. For example, M.K. Gandhi (the Mahatma) was often referred to as Gandhi''-ji''. (Hindi, like many languages, distinguishes between pronouns for persons older in age or status. Such a person is referred as ''aap''; a person of same status is called ''tum'' (both translating as "you" in English, but similar in principle to the ''vous''/''tu'' distinction in French or the ''usted''/''tú'' distinction in Spanish). A similar distinction exists for third person pronouns. When honorifics are attached in Hindi, the verb matches the plural case.)
** The traditional Bengali honorific for ordinary men is the suffix ''Babu'' (বাবু), used with the person's given (first) name. Thus, Shubhash Basu would be Shubhash-Babu. For men with whom one has a more formal relationship, the suffix ''Moshai'' (মশাই) (''mohashoi'' (মহাশয়)) is used with the person's family (last) name. Thus, Shubhash Basu would be Basu-Moshai.
** The traditional Kannada honorific is the suffix ''-avaru''. For example, Visveswariah was referred to as Visveswariah''-avaru''.
** The traditional Marathi honorific is the suffix ''-rao''. For example, Madhav Scindia was referred to as Madhav''-rao''.
** The traditional Mizo honorific for men and women are the prefix ''Pu'' and ''Pi'' respectively. For example, Pu Laldenga or Pi Ropuiliani. Additionally the prefix ''U'' may be used for elder siblings.
** The traditional Tamil honorific is the suffix ''Avargal''. Dalai Lama would become Dalai Lama ''Avargal''.
** The traditional Telugu honorific is the suffix ''Garu''. Thus, Potti Sriramulu would be Potti Sriramulu ''Garu''.

Italy

Italian honorifics are usually limited to formal situations. Professional titles like ''Ingegnere'' (engineer) are often substituted for the ordinary ''Signore'' / ''Signora'' (mister or Mrs.), while ''Dottore'' or ''Dottoressa'' (doctor) is used freely for any graduate of a university. For college professors on academic settings, the honorifics ''Professore'' or ''Professoressa'' prevail over ''Dottore'' or ''Dottoressa''. Masculine honorifics lose their ''e'' ending when juxtaposed to a surname: e.g., Dottor Rossi, Cardinal Martini, Ragionier Fantozzi. Verbs are conjugated in the third person singular (as opposed to the second person singular) when addressing someone using an honorific and the formal pronoun ''Lei'' (with a capital L) is used instead of the informal ''tu''.

Japan

The word in Japanese for honorifics, , is used in Japanese everyday conversations. Japanese honorifics are similar to English, with titles like "Mister" and "Miss", but in Japanese, which has many honorifics, their use is mandatory in many formal and informal social situations. Japanese grammar, as a whole, tends to function on hierarchy; honorific stems are appended to verbs and many nouns, primarily names, and in many cases one word may be exchanged for another word entirely with the same verb or noun meaning, but with different honorific connotations.

In Japan, there are three rough divisions of honorifics:

* , the most popular ''keigo'' that is used in daily life, used as a formal and polite way of speaking to others in general. It is usually used when the speaker does not know the other person well. Under ''teineigo'' there is also which is used when people simply want to speak in a polite way regardless of the age or class of the other person.
* is another type of ''keigo''. It is used to make the person who is being spoken to in a higher position. It is mainly used at work and when speaking with teachers. In the past, this was a type of language that was formed based on the classes Japanese society used to have. is the highest ''sonkeigo'' that exists and it is used only for the Japanese emperor, his family members and equivalent foreign nobles.
* lowers the position of the speaker or the subject of the conversation, and is primarily used at the workplace and in academia. This is also specifically used when the person is much older or in a higher position than the speaker, or often when one apologizes to someone else.

Javanese

Indonesia's Javanese majority ethnicity has many honorifics. For example:

* ''Bang'' or ''Bung'' is a somewhat outdated, egalitarian term to refer to a brotherhood among men. ''Bang'' is Betawi language for ''Mas''.
* ''Bapak'' and its contraction ''Pak'' meaning: "Sir", "Mister", or literally "Father".
* ''Bapak Cilik'' and its contraction ''Pak lik'' are used for a very familiar friend or sir; they literally meaning "small father" or a relative younger than one's father.
* ''Bapak Gede'' and its contraction ''Pak de'' are used for a big father, uncle, or relative older than one's father, meaning literally "Grand Sir".
* ''Bendara Raden Mas'', ''Bendara Mas'', or the contraction ndoro'', meaning "Prince, flag-bearer 'His Highness'".
* ''Eyang Putera Kakung'' and its contraction ''Eyang Kakung'' meaning "grandfather", literally "Grand Sir".
* ''Eyang Puteri'' and its contraction ''Eyang'' meaning "grandmother", literally "Grand Lady".
* ''Ibu'' and its contraction ''Bu'' meaning: "Madam", "Ma'am", "Ms.", or "Mrs.", and literally meaning "Mother".
* ''I Gusti'' means "His or Her Royal Majesty".
* ''Kyai'' is an honorific used with a highly respected Muslim cleric (same as mullah in Iran and maulana in South Asia).
* ''Mbak yu'' and the more common ''mbak'' are derived from Surakarta court. Initially used to address unmarried women who are adolescents or of marriageable age, they are now used with all women, with no age or marital status connotation.
* ''Mbok'' is not an honorific; it denotes an older woman of very low status, in some cases a domestic worker.
* ''Raden Behi'', contracted to ''Den Behi'', means "Heir Apparent" and is now obsolete.
* ''Raden Emas'' and its contraction ''Mas'' denote: "Mr." among colleagues, friends, and others of slightly higher age or social status, meaning literally "Golden Son", "Lord", or "Heir Apparent".
* ''Raden Emas Behi'', contracted to ''Mas Behi'', means "Second Heir Apparent" and is now obsolete.

Korea

Korean honorifics are similar to Japanese honorifics, and similarly, their use is mandatory in many formal and informal social situations. Korean grammar as a whole tends to function on hierarchy; honorific stems are appended to verbs and some nouns, and in many cases, one word may be exchanged for another word entirely with the same verb or noun meaning, but with different honorific connotations. Linguists say there are six levels of honorifics in Korean but, in daily conversation, only four of them are widely used in contemporary Korean. Suffix -ssi-(씨) is used at most honorific verbs, but not always. It is considered very impolite and offensive not to use honorific sentences or words with someone who is older or has a higher social status, and most Koreans avoid using non-honorific sentences with someone they have met for the first time. In Korean, names, first or last, always precede a title, e.g., Park Sonsaengnim, Park Kwanjangnim, etc.

Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore

A complex system of Titles and honorifics is extensively used in the Malay language-speaking cultures in Brunei and Malaysia. In contrast Singapore, whose Malay royalty was abolished by the British colonial government in 1891, has adopted civic titles for its leaders. Being Muslim, Malay people address high-ranking religious scholars as ''tok imam'' (grandpa imam). ''Tok dalang'' is a honorific used to address a village leader.

Pakistan

Pakistan has numerous honorific forms that may be used with or as a substitute for names. The most common honorifics in Pakistan are usually placed immediately before the name of the subject or immediately after the subject. There are many variations across Pakistan.
* ''Prefix type'': The traditional Urdu

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