gou1 zou2高祖
Jyutpinggou1 zou2
Yalegōu jóu
Definition
A posthumous title for an emperor in ancient China.
writtenpeople
How it's used
This title is strictly reserved for the founding emperors of dynasties in historical contexts. It is never used to refer to one's own biological great-great-grandfather, for which the term 高祖父 is used instead. When appearing in conversation, it almost exclusively refers to historical figures like 劉邦.
Examples
Related words
Common mistake
Learners often confuse this with the kinship term for a great-great-grandfather, which is also written as 高祖 but pronounced differently in some dialects and usually followed by 父 in formal contexts to avoid ambiguity.
Grammar color guide
Noun
Verb
Adjective
Adverb
Pronoun
Classifier
Particle
Connector
Grammar guides
- In 30 secondsThe whole language at a glance. No tenses, no plurals, six tones, sentence particles. Read this before you dive into any specific topic.
- ParticlesSentence particles add tone, emotion, and nuance. Learn the most common particles in Cantonese and how to use them.
- Possession (嘅)How to say my, your, and his, and how to link a describing word to a noun, all with the little word 嘅 (ge3).
