King's Kung-Fu& Tai Chi

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

鼻 bí
nose; first
radical 209 ⿐ · 14 strokes
祖 zǔ
ancestor, forefather; grandfather; surname
radical 113 ⽰ · 10 strokes

Other Chinese words for “originator”

WordPinyinMeaning
开山祖师 (開山祖師)kāi shān zǔ shīfounding master of a monastery; founder

Related words

Other words that share a character with 鼻祖.

WordPinyinMeaning
鼻子bí zinose; 个 (gè),只 (zhī)
鼻孔bí kǒngnostril; 只 (zhī)
鼻涕bí tìnasal mucus; snivel; snot
鼻炎bí yánrhinitis
鼻腔bí qiāngnasal cavity
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

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.

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