The Meaning of Onii Chan

You must have heard of Onii Chan, haven’t you? Do you know what it means? And how to use it? Read on for all about Onii Chan.

Meaning of Onii Chan in Japanese

This word can be written as onii-chan or "oniichan". In Japanese, it means older brother and is often used to express affection and closeness towards an older brother.

One can add different suffixes to the end of many of these words to change their connotation. There will be many words that are considered synonyms but still have different meanings in certain situations.

Oniisan, or onii-san: brother in general.

Oniichan, or onii-chan: An older brother with closeness and affection.

Oniisama, or onii-sama: An older brother with formality. This is considered honorific.

Aniki: A slang term not officially recognized in the dictionary. It is used roughly the same way as "bro" in English.

Oneesan, or onee-san: An older sister.

Oneechan, or onee-chan: An older sister with closeness and affection.

Oneesama, or onee-sama: An older sister with formality. This is considered honorific.

Aneki: A slang term not officially recognized in the dictionary. It is used roughly the same way as “sis" in English.

 Also, in Japanese, there are many other ways to refer to siblings, twins, and so on.

Otouto - To refer to one's own younger brother.

Otoutosan - To refer to someone else's younger brother.

Imouto - To refer to one's own sister.

Imoutosan - To refer to someone else's sister.

Kyoudai - To refer to siblings. It is used between brothers, or between siblings of different genders.

Shimai - Refers to sisters (when all siblings are female).

Futago - To refer to twins, used for either half-brothers or identical twins.

Hitorikko - To refer to an only child.

Shisuta - To refer to the younger sister in general

Shouto - To refer to brothers in general

The word onii chan is mentioned because of its popularity among non-Japanese anime and manga fans. It is used to refer to an extremely attractive male character in the comic, in the same way that English speakers use "daddy" to refer to a male character they find attractive.