Pinyin: zǔxiān

English: ancestor

HSK Level: 5 (1016 words at this level)

Tone Pattern: 3rd (dipping)

When to use: Use 祖先 when you want to talk about ancestor. This word appears in everyday Mandarin conversations and is part of the HSK 5 core vocabulary of 1016 words.

The characters 祖先 are part of the HSK 5 vocabulary list with 1016 words. Mastering this word helps build the foundation for reading, writing, and speaking Mandarin Chinese.

Each character has a specific stroke order and radical decomposition. AI Lingo Chat's application includes animated stroke order diagrams and native-speaker audio for all 3587 words across all 6 HSK levels.