Chinese symbol for “forefathers”
祖辈
zǔ bèi
Traditional: 祖輩
ancestors; forefathers; ancestry
The closest CC-CEDICT match for forefathers is 祖辈 (zǔ bèi), defined as: ancestors; forefathers; ancestry.
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
Traditional forms
Other Chinese words for “forefathers”
Related words
Other words that share a character with 祖辈.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 祖国 (祖國) | zǔ guó | motherland |
| 祖先 | zǔ xiān | ancestors; forebears; (biology) ancestral species; ancient species from which present-day species evolved |
| 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) |
| 一辈子 (一輩子) | yī bèi zi | (for) a lifetime |
| 前辈 (前輩) | qián bèi | senior; older generation |
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.