prefix
honorific prefix; polite prefix; humble prefix
Usually attached before Sino-Japanese words with on-yomi readings, such as ご家族, ご連絡, and ご注文. It can show respect for someone else's things or actions, make speech polite, or appear in humble expressions for the speaker's own action, as in ご説明します.
See also: 御 (お)
ご家族はお元気ですか。
How is your family?
We will contact you tomorrow.
ご注文を確認いたしました。
We have confirmed your order.
suffix
honorific suffix for a person
Attached after a noun referring to a person to make a respectful term. In modern use it is limited and is especially familiar in words such as 親御さん for someone else's parent or guardian.
生徒の親御さんから電話がありました。
A student's parent called.
親御さんの同意が必要です。
The parent or guardian's consent is required.
Another honorific prefix written 御 or in kana. お is more often used before native Japanese words and many everyday expressions, while ご is usually used before Sino-Japanese on-yomi words.
A full honorific suffix attached to names and titles, much more productive than the limited suffix 御 read ご.
Common polite name suffix. It is broader and less formal than 様, and in forms like 親御さん it follows the respectful term already formed with 御.
御 is the conventional kanji associated with honorific or respectful marking. The kana form ご reflects the Sino-Japanese reading used mainly before on-yomi words; the detailed historical development of individual polite expressions is lexicalized and should not be inferred from the kanji alone.