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.
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.
It is said that the ancestor of this family moved to this village in the Edo period.
That person later became the progenitor of the royal family.
He is called the father of modern medicine in Japan.
This inventor is regarded as one of the pioneers of robotics.
In old usage, 祖 can refer to a grandfather.
He is known as the founder of modern medicine.
This school of thought reveres Kūkai as its founder.
創始者 is a straightforward modern noun for the founder of an organization or practice, while 祖 carries a more compact, historical or honorific tone.
祖先 also means ancestor or forebear in a broad historical or biological sense, whereas 祖 emphasizes the origin point or progenitor of a lineage or tradition.
子孫 means descendants, the direct opposite of 祖, which refers to the ancestor or founder at the start of a lineage.
租 looks very similar in form to 祖 but means tax or tribute, unrelated to ancestry or founding.
When 祖 refers to a specific ancestor or founder, it is counted with 人, the standard counter for people.
Standard kanji form. As an independent noun it is most often seen in formal phrases such as 一族の祖, 人類の祖, or 近代医学の祖, and in compounds.
Sino-Japanese noun read そ. The kanji 祖 is conventionally associated with ancestors and founding forebears; 'grandfather' as the original meaning.
founder; originator; pioneer
founder of a sect; originator; apostle
ancestors; forefathers
great-grandmother
great-grandfather
founder of a sect; patriarch
ancestral deity; deified ancestor
founder of a dynasty; founder of a sect
sect founder; founder of a religious denomination
traveler's guardian deity
founder of an empire; imperial ancestor
progenitor; ancestor of humanity
first generation; founder of a family, school, or sect
common ancestry; sharing a common ancestor
the ancestral Sun Goddess; Amaterasu
founder; progenitor; first emperor
true ancestor; original vampire
archetype; prototype
deceased grandmother
ancestors
ancestral mausoleum