-ji (, ) is a gender-neutral

honorific 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 title (academic), h ...

used as a suffix in many languages of the

Indian subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a physiographic region of Asia below the Himalayas which projects into the Indian Ocean between the Bay of Bengal to the east and the Arabian Sea to the west. It is now divided between Bangladesh, India, and Pakista ...

, such as

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

, Nepali,

Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...

, and Punjabi languages and their dialects prevalent in northern India, north-west and central India. ''Ji'' is gender-neutral and can be used for as a term of respect for person, relationships or inanimate objects as well. Its usage is similar, but not identical, to another subcontinental honorific, '' sāhab''. It is similar to the gender-neutral Japanese honorific

-san The Japanese language makes use of a system of honorific speech, called , which includes honorific suffixes and prefixes when talking to, or referring to others in a conversation. Suffixes are often gender-specific at the end of names, while ...

Etymology

The origin of the ''ji'' honorific is uncertain.Archiv Orientální, Volume 75
Československý orientální ústav v Praze, Orientální ústav (Československá akademie věd), 2007, "... Artur Karp is concerned with the etymology of the honorific -ji, which belongs to the basic vocabulary of Hindi. Its etymology is unclear and the author points out several possibilities ..." One suggestion is that it is a borrowing from an

Austroasiatic language The Austroasiatic languages ( ) are a large language family spoken throughout Mainland Southeast Asia, South Asia and East Asia. These languages are natively spoken by the majority of the population in Vietnam and Cambodia, and by minority popu ...

such as Sora.Sora-English Dictionary
Giḍugu Veṅkaṭarāmamūrti, Mittal Publications, 1986, "... Is honorific -ji used in the neo-Aryan languages of India borrowed from Sora? ..." Another is that the term means "soul" or "life" or "sir" (similar to the ''jān'' suffix or ''shri'' suffix) and is derived from

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

.Perfecting Women: Maulana Ashraf ʻAlī Thanawi's Bihishti Zewar: a Partial Translation with Commentary
Ashraf ʻAlī Thānvī, Barbara Daly Metcalf, pp. 165, University of California Press, 1992, , "... Seemingly used interchangeably, the terms qalb, dil, and ji are, respectively, Arabic, Persian, and Hindi in origin, the linguistic universalism suggesting the comprehensiveness the term 'heart' is meant to convey; in all three cases, the meaning spills over to 'self', 'mind,' and 'soul' ..." Harsh K. Luthar gives examples of ''ji'' in ''Master-ji'', ''Guru-ji'', and ''Mata-ji''. The use of ''ji'' is also used by Urdu speakers who associate with Indian culture and language.

Variant spellings

* – Anglicised spelling, common in old publications. * – example: Ánandamúrtijii, founder of Ánanda Márga. * – example: Shankari Mai Jiew in Yogananda's '' Autobiography of a Yogi''. * – example:

Lakshman Joo Swami Lakshman Joo (9 May 1907 – 27 September 1991), born Lakshman Raina and also called Lal Sahib by his followers, was a mystic and scholar of Kashmir Shaivism. Biography Lakshman Joo was born in a Kashmiri Hindu Brahmin family in ...

of Kashmir. * – example: Radha Raman Jiu temples in Bengal ( Radha Raman Ji temples in Uttar Pradesh). * * - Eastern Bengali and Assamese pronunciation

Usage

Ji can mean respect: * With names, ''e.g.'' Gandhiji,

Nehru Jawaharlal Nehru (14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat, and statesman who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20th century. Nehru was a prin ...

ji, Modiji, Rahulji, Sant Ji or

Shiv The word Shiv or shiv may refer to: People with the name * Shivnarine Chanderpaul, a West Indies cricketer nicknamed Shiv Arts, entertainment, and media * Shiv, a fictional location in Magic: The Gathering, see Dominaria * Shiv, a villain in the ...

ji * With inanimate objects of respect, ''e.g.'' Gangaji or Kailashji * For groups to whom respect is extended, ''e.g.'' Khalsa Ji, Sangat ji * To denote respect in any relation, ''e.g.''

Mataji {{italic title ''Mataji'' (Hindi माताजी ''mātājī'') is a Hindi term meaning 'mother of all'. Etymology "Mātā" (माता) is the Hindi word for "mother", from Sanskrit ''mātṛ'' (मातृ), and the "-jī" (जी) suffi ...

, Baba-ji ("respected father"), Uncle-ji, Behen-ji ("respected sister"), Devi-ji ("respected madam"), Bhabhi-Ji ("respected sister-in-law"), Guruji ("respected master"), Panditji ("Scholar Sir") * In conversation, ''e.g.'' ''Ji Nahi'' (No, said with respect) * In polite conversation, ''e.g.'' ''Navraj Ji'' (Mr. Navraj, similar to how it would be said in Japanese, Navraj-san) * As a shorthand for yes or to denote respectful attention, ''Ji'' * To reassure that a request has been understood and will be complied with, ''Ji Ji'' * To respectfully ask for clarification, ''Ji?'' (with a questioning tone) * In

Parsi The Parsis or Parsees () are a Zoroastrian ethnic group in the Indian subcontinent. They are descended from Persian refugees who migrated to the Indian subcontinent during and after the Arab-Islamic conquest of Iran in the 7th century, w ...

(Zoroastrian) names, e.g. in

Jamsetji Tata Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata (3 March 1839 – 19 May 1904) was an Indian industrialist and philanthropist who founded the Tata Group, India's largest conglomerate. He established the city of Jamshedpur. Born into a Zoroastrian Parsi family in ...

, or Field Marshal Sam Hormusji Framji Jamshedji Manekshaw

Contrast with Sāhab

''Sāhab'' (or '' sāhib'') is always used for an individual, never for an inanimate object or group, though the plural term ''Sāheban'' exists as well for more than one person. ''Sāhab'' is also never used as a shorthand to express agreement, disagreement or ask clarification (whereas "ji" is, as in ''Ji'', ''Ji nahi'' or ''Ji?''). Sometimes, the two terms can be combined to ''Sāhab Ji'' to indicate a high degree of respect, roughly equivalent to ''Respected Sir''. One important exception where ''sāhab'' is used for inanimate objects is in connection with

Sikh Sikhs (singular Sikh: or ; , ) are an ethnoreligious group who adhere to Sikhism, a religion that originated in the late 15th century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, based on the revelation of Guru Nanak. The term ''Si ...

shrines and scripture, e.g.

Harmandir Sahib The Golden Temple is a gurdwara located in Amritsar, Punjab, India. It is the pre-eminent spiritual site of Sikhism. It is one of the Holy place, holiest sites in Sikhism, alongside the Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur in Kartarpur, Pakistan, ...

and

Guru Granth Sahib The Guru Granth Sahib (, ) is the central holy religious scripture of Sikhism, regarded by Sikhs as the final, sovereign and eternal Guru following the lineage of the ten human gurus of the religion. The Adi Granth (), its first rendition, w ...

Contrast with Jān

''Jān'' is also a commonly used suffix in the subcontinent, but it (and the variant, ''Jānī'') denotes endearment rather than respect and, in some contexts, can denote intimacy or even a romantic relationship. Due to these connotations of intimacy, the subcontinental etiquette surrounding ''Jān'' is more complex than the usage of the same term in

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

, where it is used somewhat more liberally (though even there, restrictions apply). As a standalone term, ''Jān'' is the rough equivalent of ''Darling'', and is used almost exclusively for close relatives (such as spouses, lovers and children). In this context, sometimes colloquial forms such as ''Jānoo'' and ''Jānaa'', or combination words such as ''Jāneman'' (my darling) and ''Jānejaan''/''Jānejaana'' (roughly, "love of my life"), are also used. When used with a name or a relation-term, it means "dear". So, ''bhāi-sāhab'' and ''bhāi-ji'' carry the meaning of ''respected brother'', whereas ''bhāi-jān'' or ''bhaiyya-jānī'' mean ''dear brother''. The term ''meri jān'', roughly meaning ''my dear'', can be used with friends of the same gender, or in intimate relationships with the opposite gender. In subcontinental etiquette, while ''bhaijan'' can be used by males to denote a brotherly relation with any other male of a roughly similar age including total strangers (the female equivalent between women is ''apajan'' or ''didijan''), ''meri jān'' is used only with friends with whom informality has been established. Ji, on the other hand, is appropriate in all these situations and across genders because it carries no connotations of intimacy.

Popular conflation with the letter G

Because English usage is widespread in the Indian subcontinent, the fact that the honorific ''Ji'' is pronounced identically to the letter ''G'' is used extensively in

pun A pun, also known as a paronomasia in the context of linguistics, is a form of word play that exploits multiple meanings of a term, or of similar-sounding words, for an intended humorous or rhetorical effect. These ambiguities can arise from t ...

s. This is sometimes deliberately exploited in consumer marketing, such as with the popular " Parle-G Biscuits" (where the "G" ostensibly stands for 'Glucose'), which sounds like ''Parle Ji Biscuits'' (or, 'the respected Parle biscuits'). A pun popular with children in

North India North India is a geographical region, loosely defined as a cultural region comprising the northern part of India (or historically, the Indian subcontinent) wherein Indo-Aryans (speaking Indo-Aryan languages) form the prominent majority populati ...

and

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

consists entirely of Latin letters ''BBG T PO G'', which is pronounced very similarly to ''Bibi-ji, Tea pi-o ji'', "respected ma'am, please have some tea". Some people add an "A" or "O" at the start as if a person is speaking to the Bibi-ji in a friendly way used in various regional types

slang A slang is a vocabulary (words, phrases, and linguistic usages) of an informal register, common in everyday conversation but avoided in formal writing and speech. It also often refers to the language exclusively used by the members of pa ...

s of India: ''O BBG T PO G'' or ''ABBG T PO G''. The ''Bibi-ji'' may answer ''PKIG'', "I just had the tea".

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

names ending in ''-ji'' are sometimes rendered in

as ( with

sandhi Sandhi ( ; , ) is any of a wide variety of sound changes that occur at morpheme or word boundaries. Examples include fusion of sounds across word boundaries and the alteration of one sound depending on nearby sounds or the grammatical function o ...

, i.e. ''Mukherjee'' and ''Mukhopadhyay''). ''Upādhyāya'' is Sanskrit for "teacher".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ji Suffixes Hindustani language Hindi Culture of India Honorifics by language Nepali words and phrases