Hi one of my japanese friends calls my other friend with the suffix ちゃん but he
is a man and is older than her so I dunno if this is a correct way to use this
suffix between a woman (younger) and a man (older) friends.
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2017-03-22T04:31:47.910
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2017-03-22T04:52:31.317
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question
colloquial-language suffixes gender
What are the meaning of the sufix ちゃん in an adult man?
To my experience, it is not too unusual to use ちゃん for adult males. Although
slightly unlikely to called as such by someone much younger than you.

You probably know that さん and くん can be used to somewhat establish the
_ranking_ of power and/or how close people are. And that for women sometimes
ちゃん is used instead of くん for a slightly more _cute_ effect.

When ちゃん is used for adult males, it is usually in a different way that women.
It is instead use as part of abridged pet names. For example, アンドさん->アンちゃん。It
can also be used as a normal suffix after saying the person's full name, but
not as likely.

The usage of these pet names usually demonstrates a very good/casual
relationship between 2 persons.
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2017-03-22T04:44:59.743
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2017-03-22T04:44:59.743
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answer
Wikipedia is there to help you with a page on
[honorifics](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_honorifics#Chan).

Quote:

> Chan (ちゃん?) is a diminutive suffix; it expresses that the speaker finds a
> person endearing. It comes from a "cute" pronouncing of -san (in Japanese,
> replacing s sounds with ch sounds is seen as cute). In general, chan is used
> for babies, young children, grandparents and teenagers. **It may also be
> used towards cute animals, lovers, close friends, any youthful woman, or
> between friends**. Using chan with a superior's name is considered to be
> condescending and rude.

EDIT: Here it doesn't really mention much age so it seems safe to assume that,
among adults, that (age) doesn't count much if it's used between lovers or
close friends. I personally heard that used in both ways very often (older to
younger and the other way around).

Also, think about おばあちゃん！ My guess (just a guess) is that -chan there is more
or less the same or anyway related to the honorific -chan... and grand kids
call their grandma like that all the time.
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2017-03-22T04:46:21.477
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answer