Jī is a gender-neutral honorific used as a suffix in many languages of the Indian subcontinent, such as Hindi and Punjabi languages and their dialects prevalent in northern India, north-west and central India. 'Ji' is gender-neutral and can be used for as a term of respect for person, relationships or inanimate objects as well. Its usage is similar, but not identical, to another subcontinental honorific, sāhab. It is similar to the gender-neutral Japanese honorific-san.
Etymology
The origin of the ji honorific is uncertain. One suggestion is that it is a borrowing from an Austroasiatic language such as Sora. Another is that the term means 'soul' or 'life' and is derived from Sanskrit. The use of theji indicates users identity with Hindu culture and Indian language. Dr Harsh K. Luthar gives examples of ji in Master-ji, Guru-ji, and Mata-ji. The use of ji is also used by Urdu speakers who associate with Indian culture and language.
Variant spellings
jee – Anglicised spelling, common in old publications.
Sāhab is always used for an individual, never for an inanimate object or group, though the plural term Sāheban exists as well for more than one person. "Sāhab" is also never used as a shorthand to express agreement, disagreement or ask clarification. Sometimes, the two terms can be combined to Sāhab Ji to indicate a high degree of respect, roughly equivalent to Respected Sir. One important exception where sāhab is used for inanimate objects is in connection with Sikh shrines and scripture, e.g. Harmandir Sahib and Guru Granth Sahib.
Contrast with Jān
Jān is also a commonly used suffix in the subcontinent, but it denotes endearment rather than respect and, in some contexts, can denote intimacy or even a romantic relationship. Due to these connotations of intimacy, the subcontinental etiquette surrounding Jān is more complex than the usage of the same term in Persian, where it is used somewhat more liberally. As a standalone term, Jān is the rough equivalent of Darling, and is used almost exclusively for close relatives. In this context, sometimes colloquial forms such as Jānoo and Jānaa, or combination words such as Jāneman and Jānejaan/Jānejaana, are also used. When used with a name or a relation-term, it means dear. So, bhāi-sāhab and bhāi-ji carry the meaning of respected brother, whereasbhāi-jān or bhaiyya-jānī mean dear brother. The term meri jān, roughly meaning my dear, can be used with friends of the same gender, or in intimate relationships with the opposite gender. In subcontinental etiquette, while bhaijan can be used by males to denote a brotherly relation with any other male of a roughly similar age including total strangers, meri jān is used only with friends with whom informality has been established. Ji, on the other hand, is appropriate in all these situations and across genders because it carries no connotations of intimacy.
Popular conflation with the letter 'G'
Because English usage is widespread in the Indian subcontinent, the fact that the honorific Ji is pronounced identically to the letter G is used extensively in puns. This is sometimes deliberately exploited in consumer marketing, such as with the popular "Parle-G Biscuits", which sounds like Parle Ji Biscuits. A pun popular with children in North India and Pakistan consists entirely of English letters - BBG T PO G, which is pronounced very similarly to Bibi-ji, Tea pi-o ji. Some people also add an 'A' or 'O' to this pun as a prefix to give effect as if a person is calling the Bibi-ji, in a typical Indian friendly way used in regional slangs. Thus we may also write it as O BBG T PO G. One may even add the answer of Bibi-ji as PKIG, means I just had the tea. It has been known for a Bengali name ending in -ji to be rendered in Sanskrit as -opadhyay. "Upādhyāya" is Sanskrit for "teacher".
