• 188th most frequent character
  • Adds ~0.11% to your reading coverage
  • 1 dictionary entry
  • Appears in 133 words
  • Component in 11 characters

Decomposition

1Once
2Radical
3Graphical
丿

Pinyin & Meaning

1. xiān (xian1)early • prior • former • in advance • first

Pronunciation Clues

There are no phonetic clues for this character.
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Appears In

also appears in:

Example Words

Common

先生 
首先 

Uncommon

事先 
优先 (優先)
先前 
先天 
先后 (先後)
先机 (先機)
先知 
先行 
先进 (先進)
先锋 (先鋒)
原先 
抢先 (搶先)
率先 
祖先 
预先 (預先)
领先 (領先)

RareShow 115

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  • 1023rd most frequent character
  • Adds ~0.02% to your reading coverage
  • 2 dictionary entries
  • Appears in 81 words
  • Component in 0 characters

Decomposition

1Once
2Radical
3Graphical

Pinyin & Meaning

1. (Zu3)surname Zu
2. (zu3)ancestor • forefather • grandparents

Pronunciation Clues

There are no phonetic clues for this character.
📚Save to a study list and track your progressSign up to create custom character lists, mark characters as learned, and build your knowledge step by step.

Example Words

Common

佛祖 
祖国 (祖國)
祖宗 

Uncommon

先祖 
始祖 
妈祖 (媽祖)
容祖儿 (容祖兒)
王祖贤 (王祖賢)
祖传 (祖傳)
祖先 
祖坟 (祖墳)
祖母 
祖父 
祖籍 
祖辈 (祖輩)
祭祖 
鼻祖 

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Decomposition Levels:
Level 1 - Once: Only divided once. So only two components.
Level 2 - Radical: Radical Decomposition. The character gets decomposed into its lowest radical components. For the complete list visit the Radical wikipedia page.
Level 3 - Graphical: Graphical Decomposition. Shows all the strokes & lowest level of components that make up the character.
If you see questions marks or too many "block" characters, especially when it comes to level 3 decomposition you might need the correct font.