Welcome to ChineseFrequencyDictionary.com. Enter a Chinese character or compound Chinese word to lookup. If a valid dictionary entry is found, frequency information will be shown below:

Chinese Character/Word:

Definition(s) for: 祖先

Hanzi Pinyin Definition(s)
祖先 zǔ xiān - ancestors; forebears
- (biology) ancestral species; ancient species from which present-day species evolved

List Ranking:

Where rank 1 is most common, and higher numbers are less common.

HSK 2 Level (2012) HSK 3 Band (2022) SUBTLEX-CH BeijingUni Global BeijingUni Weibo
5 7 7,073 14,164 17,854

Individual Character Breakdown:

Simp Pinyin Eng
祖 zǔ- surname Zu
祖 zǔ- ancestor
- forefather
- grandparents
先 xiān- beforehand; first; earlier
- at first; originally
- for the time being; for now
- (prefix) my late (in referring to deceased relatives older than oneself)

Other Words Containing 祖先

Sorted by the 'SUBTLEX-CH' rank because that seems like the most reliable. Words without a SUBTLEX-CH rank are ignored for being too rare.

Word HSK 2 Level (2012) HSK 3 Band (2022) SUBTLEX-CH BeijingUni Global BeijingUni Weibo
祖先 5 7 7,073 14,164 17,854