As their name suggests, honorifics are mostly used to honor the individual to who you are speaking to. There are a few choices in the English language. Honorifics include reverend, captain, corporal, doctor, professor, and many more. But for most people, there are just a few honorifics: Mr. Ms. and Mrs. Honorifics in other languages also come in several varieties, but normally the most essential ones to know are those that correspond to the basics in English.

To get one started, here compiled is a quick guide to ways honorifics are used (or not used) across different languages. There are usage variances even within these languages, but this should provide you with an overview of honorifics worldwide.

Ways honorifics are used

There are several cultural norms that are tied up with honorifics, and those norms are changing constantly. Today, regular honorifics appear to be falling out of use in English in several places, though they are far from gone completely. While it is perhaps safer to err on the side of using them, simply know that the cultural expectation for honorifics could widely vary.

Another point to note is that honorifics are quite binary, and tied to older traditions. One of the most frequent complaints about them is how Mrs. and Miss — both shortenings of the word “mistress” — are used relying on whether a woman is married or not (men use Mr. irrespective of their marital status). Because it is impossible to tell if someone is married, Mrs. and Miss are mostly used based on how old a person appears, which is also not good. Because of this, several of the female honorifics in this blog are synonyms for “young woman” or “old woman,” irrespective of marital status.

People have devised methods around these in English. Ms., for instance has been around for over a century and is used by several people to get around the Miss-Mrs. binary. Somehow newer is Mx., a gender-neutral honorific that has gained popularity during the past few decades. This is all to say, it is essential to pay attention to the honorifics an individual uses. While it might be merely a few letters, it is linked to identity and respect.

Honorifics in different languages

French

French has 3 major honorifics; they are used before a person’s last name so you would say (Honorific) > (Last Name).

• Mr. – Monsieur (shorter form “M.”)
• Miss. – Mademoiselle (shorter form “Mlle”)
• Mrs. – Madame (shorter form “Mme”)

Though mademoiselle is technically equal to “Miss,” it is becoming more common to use madame for every woman, irrespective of relationship status. The French authorities stopped using mademoiselle in official communications more than 10 years ago You still may hear the term in some parts of the French-speaking world, though.

Italian

Italian also has 3 significant honorifics. They could be used in conjunction with an individual’s last name. So one would address them (Honorific) > (Last Name).

• Mr. – Signor (shorter form “Sig.”)
• Miss. – Signoria (shorter form “Sig.na”)
• Mrs. – Signora (shorter form “Sig.ra”)

Signorina is entirely-but-gone from many people’s vocabulary, particularly younger people who prefer to group every woman together with signora. By others, it is used a lot. Overall, honorifics are less in use in Italian than in English. Using signor or signora a lot might make you sound oddly formal.

Dutch

Dutch has 2 major honorifics, which could be used before a person’s last name. Like (Honorific) > (Last Name).

• Mr. – Meneer
• Miss – Mrs. mevrou

Another version for miss is juffrouw or mejuffrouw. The first amongst the two is still used by students while addressing a female teacher.

German

German too has 3 main honorifics. These are used before the surname of a person. Like (Honorific) > (Last Name).

• Mr. – Herr (shorter form “Hr.”)
• Miss. – Fräulein (shorter form “Frl”)
• Mrs. – Frau (shorter form “Fr.”)

Fräulein, for a major part, has gone out of use in German and is more probably to be heard when talking regarding a young girl than just an unmarried one. You may also hear Herr added with Dame, however, Dame is more of a social title for women, such as “lady” in English.

Spanish

Spanish, also uses 3 main honorifics. They generally are used before an individual’s last name. Thus, it would be (Honorific) > (Last Name).

• Mr. – Señor (shorter form “Sr.”)
• Miss – Señorita (shorter form “Srta.”)
• Mrs. – Señora (shorter form”Sra.”)

Portuguese

There are just 2 honorifics regularly used in Portuguese. They could be used before a person’s last name, so you will address them (Honorific) > (Last Name).

• Mr. – Senhor (shorter form “Sr.”)
• Miss, Mrs. – Senhora (shorter form “Sra.”)

There are Portuguese equivalents to “miss” to refer to a young or unmarried woman — senhorita in Brazilian Portuguese while menina in European Portuguese — but they could come across as condescending to several people.

Russian

Russian does not really have honorifics that are comparable to Mr. or Mrs. Rather, a person may address someone using their first name and their patronymic in an attempt to show them respect.

Indonesian

There are 2 important honorifics in Indonesian. They are paired with last names like in (Honorific) > (Last Name).

• Mr. – Bapak (shorter form “Pak”)
• Mrs. – Ibu (shorter form “Bu”)

Apart from being honorifics, bapak and ibu also mean “father” and “mother” respectively and also are utilized as gendered forms of the second-person singular formal pronoun.