祖そ先せん

そ

せ

ん

Common wordJLPTN3Freq.FrequencyTop 20,000

Meanings

Refers to one's forebears, either direct family lineage or earlier generations of a people. Can be used in both biological and cultural contexts.

私わたしの祖そ先せんは九きゅう州しゅうから移い住じゅうしてきた。
My ancestors migrated from Kyushu.
この祭まつりは祖そ先せんを敬うやまうために行おこなわれる。
This festival is held to honor the ancestors.

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Usage patterns

祖そ先せんを祀まつるto worship/venerate one's ancestors
この家いえでは祖そ先せんを祀まつるための仏ぶつ壇だんがある。
This household has a Buddhist altar for venerating their ancestors.
祖そ先せんをたどるto trace one's ancestry
彼かれは家か系けい図ずを作つくって祖そ先せんをたどった。
He made a family tree to trace his ancestry.
祖そ先せんから受うけ継つぐto inherit (something) from one's ancestors
この土と地ちは祖そ先せんから受うけ継ついだものだ。
This land is something inherited from our ancestors.
共きょう通つうの祖そ先せんを持もつto share a common ancestor
人にん間げんとチンパンジーは共きょう通つうの祖そ先せんを持もつと言いわれている。
It is said that humans and chimpanzees share a common ancestor.

Kanji

祖ancestor, pioneer, founder
先before, ahead, previous

Related words

先せん祖ぞN3
先祖 is more common in everyday speech for one's own family ancestors, while 祖先 is slightly more formal and often used in broader historical or anthropological contexts.
先せん人じん
先人 refers broadly to people of earlier generations or predecessors in a field, while 祖先 specifically means blood or cultural ancestors.
祖そ
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.

Opposites

子し孫そんN2
祖先 means the ancestors who came before, while 子孫 means the descendants who come after.
末まつ裔えい
祖先 means ancestor, the opposite end of a lineage from 末裔, which means descendant.

Word family

共きょう通つう祖そ先せん
common ancestor
祖そ先せんの霊れい
ancestral spirits
祖そ先せん伝でん来らい
hereditary; handed down from ancestors
祖そ先せん崇すう拝はい
ancestor worship
祖そ先せん形けい質しつ
plesiomorphy; ancestral character

Etymology

Compound of 祖 (そ, 'ancestor') and 先 (せん, 'previous'). The reading is on'yomi, and the word has been used in Japanese for centuries to refer to forebears.