DaliaB • Jan 11, 2021
Article Oppa, Gege, P' - Brother Or Something Else?
In the Philippines it's more similar to Bhaiya. As a form of respect, a person is addressed as "kuya" if he is a biological elder brother or a slightly older male cousin, friend or even a stranger in an informal situation. The Filipino term "kuya" I heard originated from Hokkien language as majority of Chinese-Filipino ancestors came from Fujian province, "kuya" from Hokkien "a-hia" meaning elder brother and Filipino "ate" from "a-chi" meaning elder sister. I would say the term "kuya" is never used to address a person in a romantic context or to express that a relationship is progressing into something closer or romantic. People in a romantic relationship simply do not use "kuya" or "ate" to address each other, instead the usual terms of endearment like "mahal" ( love), "irog" (darling), etc. even slang "mommy"/"daddy" like Hispanics "mami"/"papi". There are also regional equivalent of "kuya" depending on which part of the Philippines like "manong" or "manoy", etc. and it means the same as "kuya" purely brother no romantic context at all. Filipino culture is not strict with honorifics, although there are no set rules, respect to elders is still a big deal. For informal situations we sometimes use auntie, uncle, grandma and grandpa to address someone in that generation who are not biologically related. During formal situations (business/school/church) and for authority figures we use the person's specific title- miss, mister, sir, madam, doctor, chief, dean, professor, bishop, etc. For people in the same generation or older who are non authority figure or not relatives/close friends we use their first names directly, honorifics optional some use them. In a few cases there are anomalies like my family who don't use honorifics for older siblings or cousins we just call directly by name.
