祖 — kanji meaning “ancestor”
祖
ancestor, pioneer, founder
- Meanings
- ancestor, pioneer, founder
- On'yomi
- ソ (so)
- Kun'yomi
- —
- Name readings
- い
- Strokes
- 9
- School grade
- 5
- JLPT (old scale)
- Level 2
- Newspaper frequency
- #1226 of 2,500
- Classical radical
- 113
- Chinese reading
- zǔ — Chinese character page
Words with 祖
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 祖父 | そふ sofu | grandfather |
| 祖母 | そぼ sobo | grandmother |
| 先祖 | せんぞ senzo | ancestor; forefather; foremother |
| 祖先 | そせん sosen | ancestor |
| 祖国 | そこく sokoku | homeland; motherland; fatherland |
| 元祖 | がんそ ganso | originator; pioneer; inventor |
| 祖父母 | そふぼ sofubo | grandparents |
| 教祖 | きょうそ kyouso | founder of a religious sect |
| 始祖 | しそ shiso | founder; originator; pioneer |
| 開祖 | かいそ kaiso | (sect) founder; apostle; originator |
| 宗祖 | しゅうそ shuuso | sect founder |
| 父祖 | ふそ fuso | ancestors |
Data: KANJIDIC2 (CC BY-SA 4.0); KanjiVG (CC BY-SA 3.0); JMdict (CC BY-SA 4.0). Retrieved 2026-10-22.