<p>For males or females who are older than yourself are not blood relatives e.g. not 表哥 or 表姐 and are usually unmarried and not quite old enough to be referred to as 阿姨 or 叔叔 then this is someone you might refer to as 大姐 or 大哥.</p>

<p>This is normally out of respect to someone who maybe treats you as a younger brother or sister.</p>

<p>In certain movies 大哥 is used for a leader of a gang of street kids or thugs.</p>

<p>This is also normally used for someone younger to someone older, so you won't see many people 40+ referring to someone else as 大姐 or 大哥 unless they have been doing this for a long time.</p>

<p>师傅 is commonly used for someone with skills in a certain area. I have seen this used for a personal carer, a repair man and also someone that teaches martial arts.</p>

<p>Don't call someone without specific skill 师傅, e.g. someone that helped you do something like give directions otherwise they may think you are having a lend of them.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2011-12-22T11:49:59.827Z
"This is normally out of respect to someone who maybe treats you as a younger brother or sister" so you wouldn't use `大姐` or `大哥` for people you don't know well?
Cocowalla
CC BY-SA 3.0
2011-12-22T11:50:54.320Z
What are the use cases for `阿姨` and `叔叔`? Sorry for asking more questions :)
Cocowalla
CC BY-SA 3.0
2011-12-22T13:04:43.867Z
Calling a taxi driver 师傅 is quite normal.
fefe
CC BY-SA 3.0
2011-12-22T22:14:42.860Z
叔叔 is like how some people would use "uncle" in English. An elder male that you know, but not necessarily related to. That is to say, if he is your uncle (on whatever side of the family, I dont remember) 叔叔 does mean "uncle" as in a relative. 阿妹 is for a younger female that you know, and/or is related to, and are on good grounds with.
Lars Andren
CC BY-SA 3.0
2011-12-23T00:33:54.087Z
@LarsAndren - 叔叔 doesn't mean "uncle" as in relative and 阿妹 is not for younger females. 阿妹 and 叔叔 is a polite term for someone a generation older than you. My son (5 y.o) refers our friends and also someone like a shopkeeper as 阿妹 and 叔叔. I also do this for people 15+ years older than me.
going
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-01-02T12:49:39.223Z
@xiaohouzi79, yes, a father's younger brother is 叔父, informally 叔叔 http://www.kwanfamily.info/culture/familytitles_table.php. Interesting to hear about your usage, I have heard college students refering to strangers daughters as 妹妹 or 阿妹 in Taiwan.
Lars Andren
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-06-20T16:55:15.043Z
At this bar I went to, one customer (Chinese) started referring to the eldest waitress as ``大姐``. She found it annoying, not (I think) because he didn't know her well, but rather because it made her feel old. Also, the guy was kind of a drunk a-hole.
Stumpy Joe Pete
CC BY-SA 3.0
2011-12-22T11:36:58.497Z
2011-12-22T23:28:46.280Z
2011-12-22T23:28:46.280Z
going
<p>In Chinese films I've often heard characters refer to each other using some of these honorifics:</p>
<blockquote>
<p><code>大姐</code> dàjiě (big sister; auntie)</p>
<p><code>大哥</code> dàgē (big brother)</p>
<p><code>师傅</code> shīfù (master)</p>
</blockquote>
<p>In what kind of scenarios are such honorifics used, and when is it acceptable or polite to use them? Likewise, when should they <em>not</em> be used?</p>
<p>What terms of familiarity you need to be with people before you should use them?</p>
<p>Is there any potential to offend by using the wrong honorific term?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2011-12-22T11:22:09.110Z
I tried to answer, but I found it needed a lot of explanations to cover most cases.In general, you should use these terms to people that you are familiar, that you just meet, a stranger, and that is elder than you(but not so elder, difference<20, a rough measure). You use such words to show your respect, so don't use these words to people that you are familiar. There are many other cases besides What I said above.
Huang
<word-choice><culture><politeness><terms-of-address>
In what kind of scenarios are honorifics such as 大姐, 大哥, and 师傅 used, and when is it acceptable or polite to use them?
# In what kind of scenarios are honorifics such as 大姐, 大哥, and 师傅 used, and when is it acceptable or polite to use them?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2011-12-22)

In Chinese films I've often heard characters refer to each other using some of these honorifics:

> `大姐` dàjiě (big sister; auntie)
>
> `大哥` dàgē (big brother)
>
> `师傅` shīfù (master)

In what kind of scenarios are such honorifics used, and when is it acceptable or polite to use them? Likewise, when should they *not* be used?

What terms of familiarity you need to be with people before you should use them?

Is there any potential to offend by using the wrong honorific term?

**Tags:** word-choice, culture, politeness, terms-of-address

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: I tried to answer, but I found it needed a lot of explanations to cover most cases.In general, you should use these terms to people that you are familiar, that you just meet, a stranger, and that is elder than you(but not so elder, difference<20, a rough measure). You use such words to show your respect, so don't use these words to people that you are familiar. There are many other cases besides What I said above.  

---

## 1 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2011-12-22. Score: 3 | Accepted answer

For males or females who are older than yourself are not blood relatives e.g. not 表哥 or 表姐 and are usually unmarried and not quite old enough to be referred to as 阿姨 or 叔叔 then this is someone you might refer to as 大姐 or 大哥.

This is normally out of respect to someone who maybe treats you as a younger brother or sister.

In certain movies 大哥 is used for a leader of a gang of street kids or thugs.

This is also normally used for someone younger to someone older, so you won't see many people 40+ referring to someone else as 大姐 or 大哥 unless they have been doing this for a long time.

师傅 is commonly used for someone with skills in a certain area. I have seen this used for a personal carer, a repair man and also someone that teaches martial arts.

Don't call someone without specific skill 师傅, e.g. someone that helped you do something like give directions otherwise they may think you are having a lend of them.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: "This is normally out of respect to someone who maybe treats you as a younger brother or sister" so you wouldn't use `大姐` or `大哥` for people you don't know well?  
> **username_0**: What are the use cases for `阿姨` and `叔叔`? Sorry for asking more questions :)  
> **username_3**: Calling a taxi driver 师傅 is quite normal.  
> **username_4**: 叔叔 is like how some people would use "uncle" in English. An elder male that you know, but not necessarily related to. That is to say, if he is your uncle (on whatever side of the family, I dont remember) 叔叔 does mean "uncle" as in a relative. 阿妹 is for a younger female that you know, and/or is related to, and are on good grounds with.  
> **username_2**: @username_4 - 叔叔 doesn't mean "uncle" as in relative and 阿妹 is not for younger females. 阿妹 and 叔叔 is a polite term for someone a generation older than you. My son (5 y.o) refers our friends and also someone like a shopkeeper as 阿妹 and 叔叔. I also do this for people 15+ years older than me.  
> **username_4**: @xiaohouzi79, yes, a father's younger brother is 叔父, informally 叔叔 http://www.kwanfamily.info/culture/familytitles_table.php. Interesting to hear about your usage, I have heard college students refering to strangers daughters as 妹妹 or 阿妹 in Taiwan.  
> **username_5**: At this bar I went to, one customer (Chinese) started referring to the eldest waitress as ``大姐``. She found it annoying, not (I think) because he didn't know her well, but rather because it made her feel old. Also, the guy was kind of a drunk a-hole.  

---

