Word

祖先 (zǔ xiān) — Chinese word meaning

HSK 6

祖先 (zǔ xiān) is a Chinese word: ancestor. This page shows its pinyin, translation, example sentences, character breakdown, decomposition, and HSK level.

Meaning of 祖先

名 míng noun

ancestor

这些文物是我们祖先留下的。

zhè xiē wén wù shì wǒ men zǔ xiān liú xià de

These artifacts were left behind by our ancestors.

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Word breakdown

祖 zǔ — ancestor, founding generation

先 xiān — former, preceding, those who came before

Structure & writing
1 祖 zǔ — grandparent; parent's parent

祖 is not used as a component in any other character.

consists of

Stroke order

2 先 xiān — before; preceding (opposite of 'after')
先 is a component in 4 characters

先 is an atomic character — it does not decompose further.

Stroke order