Japanese Honorifics - Familial Honorifics

Familial Honorifics

Words for family members have two different forms in Japanese. When referring to one's own family members while speaking to a non-family-member, neutral, descriptive nouns are used, such as haha (母) for "mother" and ani (兄) for "older brother". When addressing one's own family members or addressing or referring to someone else's family members, honorific forms are used. However, a hyphen is not used, as it would be in other, non-familial titles. Using the suffix -san, as is most common, "mother" becomes okāsan (お母さん) and "older brother" becomes onīsan (お兄さん). The honorifics -chan and -sama may also be used instead of -san, to express a higher level of closeness or reverence, respectively.

The general rule is that a younger family member (e.g., a young brother) addresses an older family member (e.g., a big brother) using an honorific form, while the older family member calls the younger one only by name.

The honorific forms are:

• Otōsan (お父さん): father. The descriptive noun is chichi (父?).
  • Ojisan (叔父さん／小父さん／伯父さん): uncle, or also "middle-aged gentleman".
  • Ojīsan (お祖父さん／御爺さん／お爺さん／御祖父さん): grandpa, or also "male senior-citizen".
• Okāsan (お母さん): mother. The descriptive noun is haha (母?).
  • Obasan (伯母さん／小母さん／叔母さん): aunt, or also "middle-aged lady".
  • Obāsan (お祖母さん／御祖母さん／御婆さん／お婆さん): grandma, or also "female senior-citizen".
• Onīsan (お兄さん): big brother, or also "a young gentleman". The descriptive noun is ani (兄?).
• Onēsan (お姉さん): big sister, or also "a young lady". The descriptive noun is ane (姉?).

The initial o- (お) in these nouns is itself an honorific prefix. In more casual situations the speaker may omit this prefix but will keep the suffix.

• Nīchan (兄ちゃん) or Nīsan (兄さん): when a young sibling addresses his or her own "big brother".
• Nēchan (姉ちゃん) or Nēsan (姉さん): when a young sibling addresses his or her own "big sister".
• Kāsan (母さん): when a man addresses his own "wife" (the "mother" of their children).
• Bāchan (祖母ちゃん): when grandchildren address their "grandma".