Japanese Honorifics
Japanese honorifics are suffixes added after a name to show respect, familiarity, or social relationship — which one you use depends on who you're talking to and how well you know them.
Advertisement
Japanese honorifics attach directly to the end of a name, with no space: Tanaka-san, Yuki-chan, Kenji-kun. Choosing the right one signals the relationship between speaker and listener, and getting it wrong can read as either too formal or too familiar.
Below are the most common ones. Each has its own page with more detail on when and how it's actually used.
In this guide
- -san"San" is the default, polite, all-purpose honorific — the safe choice for anyone you're not close to.
- -kun"Kun" is used for boys and younger men, or by someone senior addressing a junior male, especially in school or work settings.
- -chan"Chan" is an affectionate, informal honorific used for children, close friends, family members, and sometimes romantic partners or pets.
- -sama"Sama" is a highly respectful honorific, more formal than -san, used for customers, people of significantly higher status, or in religious and ceremonial contexts.
- -senpai (or used alone)"Senpai" refers to someone senior to you in school, work, or another shared hierarchy — not necessarily older, just further along.
- -sensei (or used alone)"Sensei" means teacher, and is used for teachers, doctors, and other recognised experts or masters of a skill.