Dictionary › 祖先

祖先

zǔ xiān

Old HSK 5 HSK 3.0 level 6 2-character word

祖先 (zǔ xiān) means "ancestors". It is an HSK 3.0 level 6 word, and was HSK 5 in the old six-level list.

What 祖先 means

1. ancestors; forebears
2. biologyancestral species; ancient species from which present-day species evolved

The characters in 祖先

• 祖zǔancestor; forefather; grandparents
• 先xiānbeforehand; first; earlier; at first; originally; for the time being; for now

Example sentences

• 她编织的篮子的样式，与她生活在沙漠中收获水果和蔬​​菜的祖先相同。
  She weaves her baskets in the same style as her ancestors who lived in the desert and harvested fruit and vegetables.
• 孔子说："像夏禹的为人，我找不到可以指责的漏洞。自己吃着菲薄的饮食，而却用丰厚祭品祭拜祖先与神明；自己平时穿粗劣的衣裳，而在祭祀时穿戴华服礼帽；自己住小房子，却尽力开通水道沟渠。像夏禹这样的人，我实在找不到可以指责的漏洞了。"
  Confucius said: " Yu the Great's conduct, I could not point out any flaws. He consumes meager amount of food, while offering boastful riches to the Gods and ancestors; He always don the crudest attire, but wears lavish garments when worshipping; He resides in a small house, yet forges water ways and ditches with all his might. Figures like Yu the Great, I honestly cannot point out any reprehensible flaws."

Words containing 祖先

• 直系祖先zhí xì zǔ xiāndirect ancestor

Where 祖先 is taught

In the GraphChinese course it is part of Decoration, Status & Conditions (HSK 5), each one a topic in the dependency graph of HSK 1–6 that opens only once its prerequisites are solid.

Go deeper

• Every HSK 5 word, with the rest of its level.
• The four tones and the neutral tone, to read zǔ xiān correctly.
• Look up another word in the free dictionary.