My day was made recently when I was addressed in a group as “ejeler.” But, I’m pretty sure most of you aren’t sure why that is so funny to me. So, I decided that now would be a good time to explain the Kyrgyz system of honorifics so that you know what on earth I’m talking about when I refer to an “eje” or a “baike.”

In Kyrgyz (as in most Turkic languages), a system of honorific suffixes is used to indicate respect, almost always associated with people who are older than you. Most of these honorifics derive somewhat logically, so we’ll start by learning the names of the family members.

Mom – Apa
Dad – Ata
Older Brother (Northern Dialect) – Baike
Older Brother (Southern Dialect) – Ake
Older Sister – Eje
Younger brother – Ini
Younger sister (of a boy) – Karyngdash
Younger sister (of a girl) – Singdee
Sister-In-Law – Jengée
Daughter-In-Law – Kelen

As you can see, someone’s relative age plays an important part in what word you call them. Furthermore, outside of these core family members, different words are used for people on the mother’s side of the family versus the father’s side. Thus, often single words can place people exactly in the family tree. The exception to this is that, within the father’s side of the family, just about everyone uses these nuclear family terms to refer to each other, mainly because usually all these people live in the same house together, so generally uncles, nephews, nieces, and aunts are de facto siblings.

Now, honorifics. In short, all women older than you are eje. All men older than you are baike. If he’s your teacher, he’s agai. And if he’s from/in the South (Osh), he’s ake or awa. Simple right?

To refer to them by name, you simply add the honorific as a suffix. Mary becomes Mary-eje. Mark becomes Mark-baike or Mark-ake, or for my little sister (who speaks Issyk-kul dialect), Mark-awa. People younger than you or the same age as you generally don’t get an honorific of any kind.

Also, if you use an honorific for someone, then you should probably also be using the polite pronouns and tenses with them (siz in the South, siler in Issyk-Kul).

Let’s get more complicated. If you meet a Russian man, he will always be brat, no matter his age. And to refer to him by name, you have to learn his patronymic, which is a kind of middle name that means “son of,” like Tamasovich, or daughter of, like Vasiliyevna. Between Russians, unless you’re close enough to use someone’s diminutive, then you should usually always be addressing them by their first name with the patronymic.

What about addressing groups? Just make the honorific plural! “Ejeler,” for instance, is a plural honorific to address a group of women older than me. Or just a group of “ejes,” as we sometimes call older women.

Why was it funny at the beginning? My counterpart included me in the address to the “ejeler…” in other words, I’m one of the “ladies.”

I guess I’ve officially achieved eje status.

Got questions about honorifics? Let me know in the comments!