Chinese symbol for “ancestors”
祖先
zǔ xiān
ancestors; forebears; (biology) ancestral species; ancient species from which present-day species evolved
The closest CC-CEDICT match for ancestors is 祖先 (zǔ xiān), defined as: ancestors; forebears; (biology) ancestral species; ancient species from which present-day species evolved.
Before using these characters for a tattoo, check them with a native speaker. Dictionary words often have several meanings, and the right choice depends on context.
Characters and stroke order
Other Chinese words for “ancestors”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 祖上 | zǔ shàng | ancestors; forebears |
| 祖辈 (祖輩) | zǔ bèi | ancestors; forefathers |
| 上辈 (上輩) | shàng bèi | ancestors; one's elders |
| 显祖 (顯祖) | xiǎn zǔ | ancestors (old) |
| 先辈 (先輩) | xiān bèi | an older generation; ancestors; forefathers |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 祖先.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 祖国 (祖國) | zǔ guó | motherland |
| 祖父 | zǔ fù | father's father; paternal grandfather |
| 祖母 | zǔ mǔ | father's mother; paternal grandmother |
| 祖宗 | zǔ zōng | ancestor; forebear |
| 祖师 (祖師) | zǔ shī | founder (of a craft, religious sect etc) |
| 先生 | xiān sheng | teacher; gentleman; sir; mister (Mr.) |
| 首先 | shǒu xiān | first of all; in the first place |
| 先进 (先進) | xiān jìn | sophisticated; advanced (technology etc); meritorious; exemplary (deeds etc) |
See also: Japanese symbol for “ancestors”.
Data: CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0); Unihan Database (Unicode License v3); Make Me a Hanzi (Arphic Public License (graphics.txt); LGPL-3.0-or-later (dictionary.txt)); wordfreq (CC BY-SA 4.0 (data)). Retrieved 2026-10-22.