漢字Kanji · in Nature & Elements
祖: ancestor, pioneer
Also: founder
JLPT N39 strokesGrade 5Your ink: 白 Not met
礻 carries the meaning · 且 gives the sound
9 strokes
One reading, and the words that use it
ソso · on'yomi · in compounds
- 祖先そせんancestor
- 祖国そこくfatherland, native country
- 祖父母そふぼgrandparents
- 元祖がんそoriginator, founder, pioneer
- 教祖きょうそfounder of a religious sect, guru
- 先祖せんぞancestor
Words: Kanji alive, CC BY 4.0.
成り立ち
Where it comes from
Origin · sourced
Phono-semantic compound (形聲)示 (meaning) + 且 (sound)
Specialization of 且. See there for more.
Source: Wiktionary, 祖 (rev. 93778769), CC BY-SA 4.0
Memory story · made up to help you remember
“Altar/gods (礻) + a stack/shelf (且). The "spirits" of those who came before you, honored and "stacked" in the family history—your "ancestors."”
繋がり
Connections
Ink shades, lightest to darkest: 白 Not met, 淡 Met, 中 Learning, 濃 Familiar, 印 Mastered
且
Also built on moreover (且)
祖 takes the 且 family's reading, ソ (so).
Easy to confuse
The difference, side by side祖 ancestor · 礻
vs阻 thwart · ⻖In ChineseSame character in simplified and traditional · zǔ
Same form: 祖 is written the same way in mainland China (simplified) and in Taiwan and Hong Kong (traditional).
- Simplified
- 祖 mainland China, Singapore
- Traditional
- 祖 Taiwan, Hong Kong
Pinyin zǔ most common reading
Forms and pinyin: Unicode Unihan database (Unicode License v3). Pinyin lists the most common reading, not every reading.
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