King's Kung-Fu& Tai Chi

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

祖 zǔ
ancestor, forefather; grandfather; surname
radical 113 ⽰ · 10 strokes
辈 bèi
generation, lifetime; contemporary
radical 159 ⾞ · 12 strokes

Traditional forms

Other Chinese words for “forefathers”

WordPinyinMeaning
先辈 (先輩)xiān bèian older generation; ancestors; forefathers

Related words

Other words that share a character with 祖辈.

WordPinyinMeaning
祖国 (祖國)zǔ guómotherland
祖先zǔ xiānancestors; forebears; (biology) ancestral species; ancient species from which present-day species evolved
祖父zǔ fùfather's father; paternal grandfather
祖母zǔ mǔfather's mother; paternal grandmother
祖宗zǔ zōngancestor; forebear
祖师 (祖師)zǔ shīfounder (of a craft, religious sect etc)
一辈子 (一輩子)yī bèi zi(for) a lifetime
前辈 (前輩)qián bèisenior; 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.

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