祖

祖 U+FA50, 祖 CJK COMPATIBILITY IDEOGRAPH-FA50 ← 祐 [U+FA4F] CJK Compatibility Ideographs 祝 → [U+FA51]

祖 U+2F953, 祖 CJK COMPATIBILITY IDEOGRAPH-2F953 ← 𥘦 [U+2F952] CJK Compatibility Ideographs Supplement 𥚚 → [U+2F954]

Translingual

Han character

祖 (Kangxi radical 113, 示+5, 9 strokes, cangjie input 戈火月一 (IFBM), four-corner 3721₀, composition ⿰礻且(GHTJV) or ⿰示且(K))

References

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 841, character 18
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 24664
• Dae Jaweon: page 1260, character 1
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 4, page 2391, character 4
• Unihan data for U+7956

---

Chinese

simp. and trad.		祖

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 祖
Shang	Western Zhou	Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)	Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Oracle bone script	Bronze inscriptions	Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts

Characters in the same phonetic series (且) (Zhengzhang, 2003) 

	Old Chinese
虘	*zaːl, *zaː
蔖	*zlaːl, *sʰaːʔ
摣	*rnaː, *ʔsraː
袓	*ʔsjaː, *zaʔ
怚	*ʔsjaː, *ʔsas, *zaʔ
罝	*ʔsjaː
謯	*ʔslja, *ʔsraːʔ
姐	*ʔsjaːʔ
抯	*ʔsljaːʔ, *ljaːʔ, *ʔsraː
飷	*ʔsjaːʔ
且	*sʰjaːʔ, *ʔsa
趄	*sʰjaːs, *sʰa
笡	*sʰjaːs
查	*ʔsraː, *zraː, *zraː
柤	*ʔsraː
樝	*ʔsraː
皻	*ʔsraː
渣	*ʔsraː
楂	*zraː
苴	*zraː, *ʔsa, *ʔsaʔ, *sʰa
駔	*ʔslaːŋʔ, *zaːʔ
租	*ʔsaː
蒩	*ʔsaː, *ʔsaːʔ, *sʰa
祖	*ʔsaːʔ
組	*ʔsaːʔ
珇	*ʔsaːʔ
靻	*ʔsaːʔ
粗	*sʰaː, *zaːʔ
徂	*zaː
殂	*zaː
麆	*zaːʔ, *zras
伹	*zaːʔ, *sʰa
蛆	*ʔsa, *sʰa
沮	*ʔsa, *ʔsas, *sʰa, *zaʔ, *ʔsra
咀	*ʔsaʔ, *zaʔ
疽	*sʰa
雎	*sʰa
狙	*sʰa, *sʰas
岨	*sʰa
砠	*sʰa
坥	*sʰa, *sʰas
刞	*sʰas
覰	*sʰas
覷	*sʰas
跙	*zaʔ
筯	*das
菹	*ʔsra
葅	*ʔsra
阻	*ʔsraʔ, *ʔsras
俎	*ʔsraʔ
詛	*ʔsraʔ, *ʔsras
鉏	*zra, *zraʔ
豠	*zra
鋤	*zra
耡	*zra, *zras
齟	*zraʔ
助	*zras

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ʔsaːʔ) : semantic 示 + phonetic 且 (OC *sʰjaːʔ, *ʔsa). Specialization of 且. See there for more.

Definitions

(deprecated template usage) 祖

1. ancestor; forebear; forefather
2. grandparent; grandfather or grandmother
3. a surname Zu

---

Japanese

Shinjitai	祖
Kyūjitai

Kanji

祖

(Fifth grade kyōiku kanji)

1. founder

Readings

• Go-on: そ (so, Jōyō)
• Kan-on: そ (so, Jōyō)
• Kun: じじ (jiji, 祖); はじめ (hajime, 祖め)

Compounds

Compounds

• 開(かい)祖(そ) (kaiso)
• 祖忌(そき) (soki, “death anniversary of a sect founder, or the memorial service thereof”)
• 祖先(そせん) (sosen)

Etymology

Kanji in this term
祖
そ Grade: 5
on'yomi

Alternative spelling
祖 (kyūjitai)

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Middle Chinese 祖 (tsu^X, “ancestor”).

Noun

祖(そ) • (so) 

1. ancestor

---

Korean

Hanja

祖 • (jo) (hangeul 조, revised jo, McCune–Reischauer cho, Yale co)

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

---

Vietnamese

Noun

祖

1. chữ Hán form of tổ.

Compounds

• 祖國 (tổ quốc)