Opening interactive tools…
Your dictionary will be ready shortly.
字HANZI DESK

祖先

zǔ xiān

HSK 3.0 · 7–9HSK 2.0 · 5

Yue Tan · University of Caen; © 2009 Yue Tan. MP3 preparation: Hugo Lopez / audio-cmn · CC BY-SA 3.0 US

zǔ xiān · zou2 sin1 (Jyutping)

  1. ancestors; forebears
  2. (biology) ancestral species; ancient species from which present-day species evolved

Definitions: CC-CEDICT contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 · snapshot 2026-10-09. Display: consolidated readings, linked characters and marked pinyin. Original data

Character breakdown

祖

Meaning
ancestor, forefather; grandfather
Radical
礻
Strokes
9
Components
⿰礻且
Cangjie
IFBM
Four-corner
3721.0

先

Meaning
first, former, previous
Radical
儿
Strokes
6
Components
⿱⿰?土儿
Cangjie
HGHU
Four-corner
2421.1

Unihan 17.0.0 · Unicode License V3. Make Me a Hanzi · LGPL 3+. Interactive stroke order is available in the study tools.