The keigo level checker helps learners and writers see which honorific register a piece of Japanese is using. Japanese politeness, or keigo (敬語), is built from three layers that signal social distance and respect. Mixing them correctly is one of the hardest parts of business and formal Japanese, so seeing each word labelled makes the structure of a sentence much clearer.
How it works
The tool scans your text against a curated lexicon of common keigo vocabulary. Each entry is tagged with one of three registers. Sonkeigo (尊敬語) raises the status of the listener or subject — for example 召し上がる instead of 食べる, or いらっしゃる instead of 行く. Kenjogo (謙譲語) lowers the speaker to show deference — for example 参る for go, 申す for say, or 拝見する for look. Teineigo (丁寧語) is neutral politeness expressed through the です copula, the ます verb ending, and very-polite ございます. Matching is longest-first, so a fully conjugated polite form such as 召し上がります is recognised ahead of its dictionary form.
Notes and example
Take the sentence 先生はもう召し上がりました。私は明日参ります。. The tool flags 召し上がります as sonkeigo (respectful eat) applied to the teacher, and 参ります as kenjogo (humble go) applied to the speaker — a classic respectful-versus-humble contrast. The per-category counts at the top summarise the balance of registers. Because Japanese has productive honorific patterns beyond fixed verbs, such as お + stem + になる, this tool focuses on the irregular forms that learners most need to memorise. Everything runs locally in your browser.