What are the meaning of the sufix ちゃん in an adult man?


Hi one of my japanese friends calls my other friend with the suffix ちゃん but he
is a man and is older than her so I dunno if this is a correct way to use this
suffix between a woman (younger) and a man (older) friends.




To my experience, it is not too unusual to use ちゃん for adult males. Although
slightly unlikely to called as such by someone much younger than you.

You probably know that さん and くん can be used to somewhat establish the
_ranking_ of power and/or how close people are. And that for women sometimes
ちゃん is used instead of くん for a slightly more _cute_ effect.

When ちゃん is used for adult males, it is usually in a different way that women.
It is instead use as part of abridged pet names. For example, アンドさん->アンちゃん。It
can also be used as a normal suffix after saying the person's full name, but
not as likely.

The usage of these pet names usually demonstrates a very good/casual
relationship between 2 persons.

