Kanji: 祖

    • Meaning : ancestor,pioneer,founder
    • ON reading :
    • KUN reading :
    • Nanori :
    • Stroke count : 9
    • Frequency of use ranking : 1226
    • Jouyou grade level : 5
    • JLPT : 2
    • Radical : 示 (礻)

Words containing that kanji:


  • さん | おさん | おさん | さん - おばあさん - grandmother | female senior-citizen
  • さん | おさん | さん | さん - おじいさん - grandfather | male senior-citizen
  • ちゃん | ちゃん - じいちゃん - grandfather (may be used after name as honorific) | male senior-citizen (may be used after name as honorific)
  • - せんぞこうぞうたい - ancestor structure
  • - えんそ - forefathers/remote ancestors
  • - がいそふ - maternal grandfather
  • - かいそ - (sect) founder/apostle/originator/inventor
  • - きょうそ - founder of a religious sect
  • - きょうどうそかい - international settlement
  • - がんそ - originator/founder/pioneer/inventor
  • さん - ひいおばあさん - great-grandmother
  • | - おこそずきん - kerchief worn by women in former times in Japan in cold weather, covering the whole head (except eyes)
  • - しそ - founder/originator/pioneer
  • - しそちょう - archaeopteryx
  • - おおじのみこと - grandfather of the emperor
  • - そうそふぼ - great-grandparents
  • さん - ひいおじいさん - great-grandfather
  • - しゅうそ - sect founder
  • さん | さん - じいさん - grandfather (may be used after name as honorific) | male senior-citizen (may be used after name as honoriffic)
  • - だいそこくせんそう - Great Patriotic War (Russian name for the war along the eastern front during World War II)
  • - そこくせんそう - Patriotic War (Russian name for the war with Napoleon in 1812)
  • - じんえんどうそせつ - monkey-ancestry theory
  • | - おや - parent/parents | dealer (in cards) | founder | (pet) owner
  • - じんそ - progenitor
  • - さきつおや - ancestor
  • - さきのおや - ancestor
  • - せんぞでんらい - inherited
  • - せんぞ - ancestor
  • - そせん - ancestor
  • - そぼ | ばば | おおば | おば | うば - grandmother
  • - そこくふっき - returning to one's fatherland
  • - そふぼ - grandparents
  • - そけい - prototype
  • - そせんすうはい - ancestor worship
  • - そしぜん - Zen Buddhism based on the teachings of Bodhidharma
  • - そこく - fatherland/native country
  • - そふ | じじ | じい | おおじ | おじ | そぶ - grandfather | old man | kyogen mask used for the role of an old man
  • | - たいそ - founder/progenitor/emperor
  • - ちゅうこうのそ - ancestor who rejuvenated a dynasty or a family
  • - てんそ - the ancestral Sun Goddess
  • 西 - そしせいらい - the coming of Bodhidharma from western India to China
  • - あまつみおや - imperial ancestor
  • - どうそ - common ancestor
  • - びそ - founder/originator/introducer
  • - ぶっそ - Founder of Buddhism
  • - ぼうそふ - deceased (one's late) grandfather
  • インドヨーロッパ | インド・ヨーロッパ - インド・ヨーロッパそご | インドヨーロッパそご - Proto-Indo-European (hypothetical language from which all Indo-European languages are derived)
  • - いんおうそご - Proto-Indo-European (hypothetical language from which all Indo-European languages are derived)
  • - なおや - eponym (word derived from the name of a place or person)
  • - しょそ - the first generation of a family/school (of thought) or religious sect
  • - それい - ancestral spirit/collective of ancestral spirits which have lost their individualities | ancestor deified as a kami/spirit of a kami
  • | - そうそぼ | ひいばば | ひばば | ひおおば - great-grandmother/great-grandma
  • | - そうそふ | ひいじじ | ひじじ | ひおおじ - great-grandfather/great-granddad/great-grandad
  • - せんぞでんしょう - what has been (orally) handed down from generation to generation/legend/folk tale
  • さん | さん - ばあさん - grandmother | female senior citizen
  • - そせんのれい - ancestral spirits
  • - こうそふ - great-great-grandfather
  • - ふそでんらい - hereditary/patrimonial/handed down from generation to generation
  • - そじゅつ - exposition (propagation) of one's master's teachings or doctrines
  • - そそう - ancestors
  • - おそしさま - the Founder of the (our) sect (used especially in the Nichiren sect of Buddhism, referring to Nichiren)
  • 々 | - せんぞだいだい - ancestral/hereditary/generation after generation/passing from father to son
  • - そせんでんらい - hereditary
  • - そご - parent language
  • - ふそ - ancestors
  • - そびょう - mausoleum containing the remains of one's ancestors
  • - そこくあい - patriotism
  • - そし - founder of a sect
  • ちゃん | ちゃん | ちゃん | おちゃん - おばあちゃん - granny/grandma/gran/female senior-citizen (familiar form of address)
  • ちゃん - おじいちゃん - grandpa/grandad
  • - こうそ - (divine, historical or legendary) founder of an empire
  • | | - どうそじん | どうそしん | さいのかみ | さえのかみ - traveler's guardian deity (traveller)
  • - こうそ - founder of dynasty or sect
  • - がいそぼ - maternal grandmother
  • - こうそぼ - great-great-grandmother
  • - そ - ancestor/forefather/progenitor
  • - いがくのそ - founder of medical science
  • - せんぞのいはい - ancestral tablet
  • る - そせんのれいをまつる - to perform religious services for the departed souls of one's ancestors
  • - だいそふ - great-grandfather
  • - にちゆうどうそろん - hypothesis that Jews and Japanese are of common ancestry