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An honorific is a title that expresses esteem, courtesy or respect for a position or rank when used to address or refer to a person.

Honorific titles can be used as prefixes or suffixes depending on the situation and context, and there are many factors to take into consideration when using a title.

It can depend on:

• The style
• The custom of the country (e.g. Japanese titles can be totally different from those in Spain or France)
• The listener's gender
• Their age (e.g. toddler, adolescent, young adult)
• Their family function (e.g. parent, older sibling, in-laws)
• Hierarchical position (e.g. boss, employee, principal)
• Their job (e.g. teacher, coach, police officer, nurse)
• Whether it's a roommate or a stranger, etc.

Generally, these titles are used as a third-person grammatical style and as a second-person form of address.

Many titles are positive and complimentary, showing respect for the listener, such as "Mister", "Sir", "Ma'am", "Miss", "Professor", "Doctor", and "Master". However, the opposite also exists: negative, derogatory titles are used to degrade the listener, like "Servant" or "This weirdo".

In all cases, the "honorific" tag is used when an honorific title is used to address a character in a post, whether it's complimentary or derogatory, and no matter the language of the title. (e.g. "Mademoiselle", "Señor", "Herr", "太太", "さん", "후배", "พยาบาล")

List of English honorifics

Related tags:

Specific languages:

• english honorific
• japanese honorific

Other:

• greeting
• greeting viewer – When the greeting is made for the viewer
• name in dialogue/name drop – When a name is placed before or after a title

See also:

• nobility
• profanity
• insult – Used also for derogatory titles
• term of endearment