Differences between san and kun?

[Son Gohan 1995]

What is the difference between these two terms? Bulma refers to Goku as "son-kun" and Goten calls trunks "trunks-kun" then You have Gohan refering to Kuririn as "Kuririn-san" what's the difference between the two terms? Do they identify a certain relationship between characters?

[Kamiccolo9]

"San" is an honorific that is roughly equivalent to "mister." If you ran into someone, and he gave you his name, but you knew nothing else about him, you would call him (insert name here)-san.

"Kun" is a term of endearment. You would only use it for people you've known fondly for a long time, and I think only for people younger than you, or at least close to the same age. I could be wrong for that last part, though.

"San" is a formal honorific for one that has a greater or unknown social status compared to you, while "Kun" is an informal honorific for a childhood friend.

[VegettoEX]

They're honorifics/suffixes that indicate the relationship or status between people/characters. Japan is a very hierarchical (and gendered) society.

"-kun" (くん) is generally for someone about your own age or younger than you that you are intimately (note: not necessarily sexual) familiar with. Bulma has known Goku since he was just a kid (as was she), and he's a little bit younger than her, so he'll always just be "Son-kun" to her in an affectionate way. Goten's usage of "Trunks-kun", whereas Trunks doesn't use "Goten-kun", shows a little bit about how enamored Goten is with Trunks, and that they're both young boys. Typically used only for males.

"-chan" (ちゃん) is similar to the above, only for females. Recoome actually calls Vegeta "Veggie-chan", I believe. Shows you how he's being incredible sarcastic and demeaning.

"-san" (さん) is the catch-all polite suffix, generally for someone older and of a higher rank than you. Think of it as "Mr." or "Mrs." in a general regard. It's "Piccolo-san" to Gohan. It's "Goku-san" to Trunks. Goku is "Otōsan" (father + honorific) to Gohan. Lots of older male characters might be "Ojisan" (like "uncle") to younger family/friends.

You'll see a bunch others in the series:

"-sama" (様) can be thought of as for extreme reverence. There's "Kami-sama", where "Kami" (神) literally just means "God" and it gets a suffix because of his rank and importance. Same with "Kaio-sama".

"-daio" (大王) is a great king/lord ("dai" being "big" and "o" meaning "king/lord"). "Enma-daio" gets this, and Pilaf assigns himself the title of "Pilaf-daio".

"-daimao" (大魔王), you can probably guess by now, is a "great demon king" (with "dai" being the same "big", the "ma" being "demon", and the "o" being "king/lord").

There's also stuff like "sensei" and "senpai" and such, but they're not often used in DB much. There's also some military-specific stuff when you get into the Red Ribbon Army.

[SaiyaSith]

Wow you're a great teacher. I've never learned much Japanese at all, but after reading that I feel like it's possible to learn the language. Btw it would be awesome if you made a podcast this week!

[Son Gohan 1995]

They're honorifics/suffixes that indicate the relationship or status between people/characters. Japan is a very hierarchical (and gendered) society.

"-kun" (くん) is generally for someone about your own age or younger than you that you are intimately (note: not necessarily sexual) familiar with. Bulma has known Goku since he was just a kid (as was she), and he's a little bit younger than her, so he'll always just be "Son-kun" to her in an affectionate way. Goten's usage of "Trunks-kun", whereas Trunks doesn't use "Goten-kun", shows a little bit about how enamored Goten is with Trunks, and that they're both young boys. Typically used only for males.

"-chan" (ちゃん) is similar to the above, only for females. Recoome actually calls Vegeta "Veggie-chan", I believe. Shows you how he's being incredible sarcastic and demeaning.

"-san" (さん) is the catch-all polite suffix, generally for someone older and of a higher rank than you. Think of it as "Mr." or "Mrs." in a general regard. It's "Piccolo-san" to Gohan. It's "Goku-san" to Trunks. Goku is "Otōsan" (father + honorific) to Gohan. Lots of older male characters might be "Ojisan" (like "uncle") to younger family/friends.

You'll see a bunch others in the series:

"-sama" (様) can be thought of as for extreme reverence. There's "Kami-sama", where "Kami" (神) literally just means "God" and it gets a suffix because of his rank and importance. Same with "Kaio-sama".

"-daio" (大王) is a great king/lord ("dai" being "big" and "o" meaning "king/lord"). "Enma-daio" gets this, and Pilaf assigns himself the title of "Pilaf-daio".

"-daimao" (大魔王), you can probably guess by now, is a "great demon king" (with "dai" being the same "big", the "ma" being "demon", and the "o" being "king/lord").

There's also stuff like "sensei" and "senpai" and such, but they're not often used in DB much. There's also some military-specific stuff when you get into the Red Ribbon Army.

Thanks! I learnt a lot from this!

[Kamiccolo9]

They're honorifics/suffixes that indicate the relationship or status between people/characters. Japan is a very hierarchical (and gendered) society.


"-sama" (様) can be thought of as for extreme reverence. There's "Kami-sama", where "Kami" (神) literally just means "God" and it gets a suffix because of his rank and importance. Same with "Kaio-sama".

"-daio" (大王) is a great king/lord ("dai" being "big" and "o" meaning "king/lord"). "Enma-daio" gets this, and Pilaf assigns himself the title of "Pilaf-daio".

I would assume that these could be interchangeable at some points? I do know that Sama is not restricted to deities, so I could see Pilaf's subordinates calling him either one. Same with Enma or Kaio.

I only took basic Japanese, so I never got into the finer points of precedence when honorifics overlap.

[Herms]

Daimaou and daiou are titles, not honorifics like sama/san/etc. Pilaf gets called both "Pilaf-sama", "Daiou-sama", probably "Pilaf Daiou-sama" at times. Piccolo's the same. Honorifics can't be stacked or used in place of a character's name like that. In that regard, Daiou and Daimaou work like Kaiou or Kami.

Sama is indeed more respectful than san, but "extreme reverence" might be overselling it. It's true that in DB it's mostly used for gods and evil overlords, but in everyday life it's used for customers and other more down-to-earth cases of being polite to someone.

[Kamiccolo9]

Thanks for the clarification, Herms.

[SaiyaJedi]

"-kun" (くん) is generally for someone about your own age or younger than you that you are intimately (note: not necessarily sexual) familiar with. Bulma has known Goku since he was just a kid (as was she), and he's a little bit younger than her, so he'll always just be "Son-kun" to her in an affectionate way. Goten's usage of "Trunks-kun", whereas Trunks doesn't use "Goten-kun", shows a little bit about how enamored Goten is with Trunks, and that they're both young boys. Typically used only for males.

"-chan" (ちゃん) is similar to the above, only for females. Recoome actually calls Vegeta "Veggie-chan", I believe. Shows you how he's being incredible sarcastic and demeaning.

-kun is not really as diminutive the way -chan is. -kun can express affection, but it's also a neutral way to address a male school-age peer, or a male of significantly younger age / lower-status than you almost anywhere. (It can even be used for women in formal / collegial contexts, such as in a legislature.) Note, for instance, how Akira Toriyama calls (the younger) Masakazu Katsura "Katsura-kun", but Katsura addresses him as "Toriyama-san".

-chan, on the other hand, is a diminutive form of -san that's primarily used with small children, and with women in an informal, affectionate context. Using it when the context doesn't warrant it — you're not that close, or you're in a formal setting, for example — can be seen as a slight at best, and a major insult at worst. That goes double if you're male.

[huzaifa_ahmed]

I have not seen any posts yet that relate "kun" to being similar to "dude" in tone and subject of direction.

They are quite similar.

[SaiyaJedi]

I have not seen any posts yet that relate "kun" to being similar to "dude" in tone and subject of direction.

They are quite similar.

Similar perhaps in that it would be common courtesy in a group of male friends, but it's not terribly similar otherwise.

[Sayo-chan]

San is derived from sama, which is a far more respectful suffix. San is typically the equivalent to "Mr.", "Ms.", or "Mrs.", meaning it can be used both formally and informally. Kun on the other hand is typically, but not always, used by people of higher status referring to someone of a lower status. This is usually in a masculine context, but like sama and san is gender-neutral. In the masculine context, boys of the same status often refer to one another using kun. Honorifics can be used to emphasize things such as a gap in rank, which is why we see Reacoom mock Vegeta with chan. If Vegeta were a salaryman working in a cubical and happened to call his boss, boss-chan, well he'd probably be disciplined. The systems of honorifics isn't limited to just these suffixes, as it also has varying levels of politeness which we can see in two distinctive forms of language (i.e., keigo [敬語]).

-chan, on the other hand, is a diminutive form of -san that's primarily used with small children, and with women in an informal, affectionate context. Using it when the context doesn't warrant it — you're not that close, or you're in a formal setting, for example — can be seen as a slight at best, and a major insult at worst. That goes double if you're male.

Well that's not entirely correct. While you cite children and women, I could just as easily cite close friends, lovers or cute animals (not to diminish the prominence of the feminine context). Chan's application ranges from animals, infants, kids, teens, female family members/students, grandparents, lovers and idols. It's because of this that it, like san and kun, is gender-neutral, but the feminine context is fairly common. However. the feminine context (formal or informal) isn't mutually exclusive to the affectionate context (also formal or informal) as it isn't a rule. The best anime related example I can think of is how Usagi and Chibiusa (Sailor Moon) refer to Mamoru as Mamo-chan. For idols, or really just "cute" adults, take someone like Arnold Schwarzenegger for example. He's commonly referred to as Shuwa-chan (シュワちゃん). Beyond people, probably the most common example for animals would be with cats. That is, Neko (noun) becoming neko-chan (proper noun) to emphasize its cuteness or a related attribute.

Edit: Oh yeah, my name. Chan can be used in 3rd person application to oneself, but it's considered to be childish.

Edit II: Speaking of childish, after reading this patronizing tweet, I think I'm done with this forum. Thinly veiled appeals to authority coupled with someone prone to error disqualifying my correction is nothing short of pretentious. My Cantonese is next to perfect, having been born and raised in Honk Kong until finally moving to America several years ago, yet I don't stroke my own ego because of some preconceived notions in some elitist circle, nor do I make appeals to authority to cover for when I'm partially correct. I think what's finalized my decision here would be the utter hypocrisy and pretentiousness of these two posts made by staff members.

[NeoKING]

Can someone explain Chi-Chi's Goku-sa?

[Kamiccolo9]

Can someone explain Chi-Chi's Goku-sa?

If I'm not mistaken, it's due to her particular dialect. Chi-Chi has, if I remember correctly, kind of a "redneck" accent that flavors her speech. So "san" becomes "sa."