祖父 (zǔ fù) — paternal grandfather | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

Formal, written term for 'paternal grandfather,' contrasted with the everyday spoken 爷爷. It belongs to a literary kinship set: 祖父 = father's father, 祖母 = father's mother.

noun

paternal grandfather

Measure word · 位

Examples

祖父。
Wǒ de zǔ fù shì yí wèi yī shēng.
My paternal grandfather is a doctor.
祖父？
Nǐ zǔ fù nián qīng de shí hou xǐ huan lǚ xíng ma?
Did your paternal grandfather like to travel when he was young?
祖父。
zǔ fù Cháng cháng gěi wǒ jiǎng tā xiǎo shí hou de gù shi.
Grandfather often tells me stories from his childhood.

Origin

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

祖zǔancestor

父fùfather

祖 refers to an ancestor and 父 to father, giving the sense of the father's father.

Characters in this word

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

Meaning part形符xíngfú

Sound part声符shēngfú

且

Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

祖 was made by adding 示 to 且, and 且 gives the sound.

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

The shape 父 shows a hand holding a stone blade, referring to a man working with a stone axe.

Appears in

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