馬祖

简 马祖 · 繁 馬祖
Mandarin · pinyin Mǎ zǔ

Meanings

  1. Matsu Islands off Fujian, administered by Taiwan
Full entryShow on map

Characters in this entry

馬
Look up this written character
祖
zǔ · ancestor, forefather; grandfather
马
mǎ · horse; surname; Kangxi radical 187
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

Explore the spelling

Mandarin tones

3–3 · Ma3 zu3

Compare attested words with these syllables ↗

Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.

Connected dictionary

3character links
Explore word families ↗Compare pronunciations ↗Open character structure ↗
Counts describe dictionary records, not word frequency or semantic similarity. Source identities stay separate.

Read this spelling in Classical texts

Follow a written form into the eight pinned witnesses: Analects, Mencius, Laozi, Zhuangzi, Xunzi, Han Feizi, Sunzi and the Mao Shijing. A match is a place to investigate; it does not prove that a modern dictionary sense fits the passage.

馬祖 · find source passages ↗ · 马祖 · find source passages ↗

Explore Classical grammar ↗

Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 3 senses

Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

name

  1. (~列島) Matsu Islands (synonymous with Lienchiang County, Taiwan (ROC))
  2. (~海峽) Matsu Strait (between Beigan and Nangan in Lienchiang County, Taiwan (ROC))
  3. (~鄉) Matsu (hypothetical township of Lianjiang, Fuzhou, Fujian as claimed by China (PRC); includes most of Lienchiang County, Taiwan (ROC))

Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history

Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source & license · Data pack