noun #11,683

Meanings

  1. 1 ancestor
  2. 2 grandfather

Examples

HSK 3
Tā de zǔfù shì yī wèi yīshēng.
His paternal grandfather is a doctor.
HSK 5
Wǒmen yào bǎowèi zǔguó.
We must protect our motherland.
HSK 6
Wǒmen de zǔxiān zhù zài zhège shāngǔ lǐ.
Our ancestors lived in this valley.

Tips

memory
(altar) + (moreover) - rituals for ancestors at the altar.

Components

radical
shì
spirit; altar (left-side)
Spirit radical on the left - left-side form of - marks as a religious or ritual word. Ancestors are venerated through altar offerings in Chinese tradition. Same radical drives (god), (rite), (blessing), (pray). Don't confuse with (clothing), which has five strokes.
phonetic
qiě
moreover; and (also: ancestral tablet)
supplies the sound - qiě/zǔ are both readings of this character - and is also the original semantic element: originally pictured a stacked ancestral tablet on an altar. So is doubly motivated: spirit-altar plus ancestor-tablet, the canonical ancestor-worship character.

Stroke Order