祖そ

noun

ancestor; forefather; progenitor

Formal or concise noun for an ancestor at the beginning of a lineage, family, people, or tradition; common in the pattern Xの祖.

• この一いち族ぞくの祖そは、江え戸ど時じ代だいにこの村むらへ移うつり住すんだと伝つたえられている。

  It is said that the ancestor of this family moved to this village in the Edo period.

• その人じん物ぶつは後のちに王おう家けの祖そとなった。

  That person later became the progenitor of the royal family.

noun

founder; originator; pioneer; inventor

Used honorifically or historically for the person regarded as the beginning of a school, field, invention, or movement; often translated according to context as founder, originator, or pioneer.

• 彼かれは日本にほんの近きん代だい医い学がくの祖そと呼よばれている。

  He is called the father of modern medicine in Japan.

• この発はつ明めい家かはロボット工こう学がくの祖その一人ひとりとされる。

  This inventor is regarded as one of the pioneers of robotics.

noun

grandfather

Original or old meaning. In modern Japanese, 祖父 is the normal word for grandfather; standalone 祖 in this sense is mainly historical or explanatory.

• 古ふるい用よう法ほうの「祖そ」は、祖そ父ふ、つまり祖そ父ふ親しんを指さすことがある。

  In old usage, 祖 can refer to a grandfather.