Today’s #kanji is #祖, which is listed under its semantic element of #しめすへん（礻）, which shows association with “deity (god).” Its phonetic element is 且, which has the meaning of “beginning.” 祖 and 且, however, don’t share a sound. Can you guess what 祖 means?
Meaning: grandfather, ancestor, original
Reading: ソ（ゾ）
祖国（ソコク）: n. one’s homeland, a person’s mother country
祖先（ソセン）: n. an ancestor, a forefather, one’s forebears
祖父（ソフ）: n. a grandfather
祖母（ソボ）: n. a grandmother
開祖（カイソ）: n. a founder (of a religious sect/temple), an originator
元祖（ガンソ）: n. the founder, an originator
教祖（キョウソ）: n. the founder of a religion, the head of a religious sect
先祖（センゾ）: an ancestor, forefathers
For more JLPT N3 study materials, please visit my JLPT N3 Kanji page as well as JLPT N3 Grammar page.
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- しめすへん
