[on-uh-rif-ik] 
| 1. | Also, hon⋅or⋅if⋅i⋅cal. doing or conferring honor. |
| 2. | conveying honor, as a title or a grammatical form used in speaking to or about a superior, elder, etc. |
| 3. | (in certain languages, as Chinese and Japanese) a class of forms used to show respect, esp. in direct address. |
| 4. | a title or term of respect. |
| hon·or·if·ic (ŏn'ə-rĭf'ĭk) adj. Conferring or showing respect or honor. n. A title, phrase, or grammatical form conveying respect, used especially when addressing a social superior. [Latin honōrificus : honor, honōr-, honor + -ficus, -fic.] hon'or·if'i·cal·ly adv. |
honorific
a grammatical form used in speaking to a social superior. In English it has largely disappeared, retained only in the use of the third person when speaking to someone clearly superior in rank ("Does your highness wish it?"). In other Indo-European languages it has a vestigial form in the degree of formality attached to the use of second-person pronouns: e.g., in German Sie ("you") rather than the familiar du ("you," or "thou").
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əˈrɪf