列祖列宗 — Chinese idiom

Meaning

• one's ancestors through the generations

Character by character

• 列lièa line; to arrange, to classify
• 祖zǔancestor, forefather; grandfather; surname
• 列lièa line; to arrange, to classify
• 宗zōngancestry, clan, family, lineage; religion, sect

Idioms sharing a character

• 周游列国 zhōu yóu liè guó
• 数典忘祖 shǔ diǎn wàng zǔ
• 开宗明义 kāi zōng míng yì

Data: CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0); Unihan Database (Unicode License v3). Retrieved 2026-10-22.