T-V distinction

English

Examples
French: tu (informal), vous (formal) German: du (informal), Sie (formal) Italian: tu (informal), Lei (formal) Portuguese: tu (informal), você (formal) Spanish: tú (informal), usted (formal)

Etymology

From Latin tū (“thou, singular you”) and vōs (“ye, plural you”).

Noun

T-V distinction (plural T-V distinctions)

1. (sociolinguistics) The distinction between a formal and an informal second-person pronoun in some languages.