Chinese symbol for “originator”
鼻祖
bí zǔ
the earliest ancestor; originator (of a tradition, school of thought etc)
The closest CC-CEDICT match for originator is 鼻祖 (bí zǔ), defined as: the earliest ancestor; originator (of a tradition, school of thought etc).
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 “originator”
Related words
Other words that share a character with 鼻祖.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 鼻子 | bí zi | nose; 个 (gè),只 (zhī) |
| 鼻孔 | bí kǒng | nostril; 只 (zhī) |
| 鼻涕 | bí tì | nasal mucus; snivel; snot |
| 鼻炎 | bí yán | rhinitis |
| 鼻腔 | bí qiāng | nasal cavity |
| 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 |
See also: Japanese symbol for “originator”.
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.