Honorific
An honorific (sometimes Honorable) is a word or expression with connotations conveying esteem or respect when used in addressing or referring to a person. Sometimes the term is used not quite correctly to refer to an honorary title. It is also often conflated with systems of honorific speech in linguistics, which are grammatical or morphological ways of encoding the relative social status of speakers.
Typically honorifics are used for second and third persons; use for first person is less common. Some languages have anti-honorific or despective first person forms (meaning something like "your most humble servant" or "this unworthy person") whose effect is to enhance the relative honor accorded a second or third person.
Modern English honorifics
The most common honorifics in modern English are usually placed immediately before the name of the subject. Honorifics which can be used of any adult of the appropriate sex include "Mr", "Mrs", "Miss", and "Ms". Other honorifics denote the honored person's occupation, for instance "Doctor", "Captain", "Coach", Officer, "Father" (for a priest), or "Professor". Abbreviations of academic degrees, used after a person's name, may also be seen as a kind of honorific (e.g. "Jane Doe, Ph.D.")
Some honorifics act as complete replacements for a name, as "Sir" or "Ma'am", or "Your Honor". Subordinates will often use honorifics as punctuation before asking a superior a question or after responding to an order: "Yes, Sir" or even "Sir, yes Sir."
A judge is addressed as "Your Honor" when on the bench, and may be referred to as "His/Her Honor"; the plural form would be "Your Honors". Similarly, a monarch (ranking as a king or emperor) and his consort may be addressed or referred to as "Your/His/Her Majesty", "Their Majesties", etc. (but there is no customary honorific accorded to a female monarch's consort, as he is usually granted a specific style). Monarchs below kingly rank are addressed as "Your/His/Her Highness", the exact rank being indicated by an appropriate modifier, e.g. "His Serene Highness" for a member of a princely dynasty, or "Her Grand Ducal Highness" for a member of a family that reigns over a grand duchy. Verbs with these honorifics as subject are conjugated in the third person (e.g. "you are going" vs. "Your Honor is going" or "Her Royal Highness is going".)
In music, a distinguished conductor or virtuoso instrumentalist may be known as "Maestro".
In aviation, airline/charter pilots who serve as Pilot in command are usually addressed as "Captain" plus their full name or surname. This tradition is slowly diminishing in the United States and most EU countries. However, a lot of other countries, especially in Asia, fully adhere to this tradition and address airline pilots, military pilots and flight instructors exclusively as "Captain" even outside of the professional environment. In addition, such countries etiquette rules dictate to place this title on all the official letters and social invitations, business cards, identification documents, etc. In the United States, when addressing an airline/charter pilot, common etiquette does not require the title "Captain" to be printed on official letters or invitations before the addressee's full name. However, this is optional (akin to lawyer's "Esq" title at the end of the name) and may be used if considered appropriate, especially when addressing airline pilots with many years of experience.
In Japanese
Japanese honorifics are similar to English titles like "Mister" and "Miss"; but in Japanese, which has many honorifics, their use is mandatory in many formal and informal social situations. Japanese grammar as a whole tends to function on hierarchy-honorific stems are appended to verbs and some nouns, and in many cases one word may be exchanged for another word entirely with the same verb- or noun-meaning, but with different honorific connotations.
The most common honorific is to add -san to the end of a man's last name. "Roberts-san" would be the equivalent to "Mister Roberts". "Roberts-sensei" would mean "Roberts-teacher" or "Roberts-master".
The use of "-chan" is the diminutive of "-san" and is most often used or females.
In Spanish
Spanish has a number of honorific forms that may be used with or as substitutes for names, such as señor 'Mr., Sir, gentleman', señora 'Mrs., Lady, ma'am, lady', señorita 'Miss, young lady', licenciado 'person with a bachelor's degree', maestro 'teacher, master mechanic, person with a master's degree', doctor 'doctor', etc.
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