祖母
zǔ mǔ · HSK 6
father's mother
👵 zu mu = ancestor + mother — the mother from your ancestor's side
祖 (zǔ) means ancestor or grandfather, 母 (mǔ) means mother. Together: the mother on your father's side, your paternal grandmother. The zu sound echoes 'zoo' — the elder who has seen it all.
母 — pictograph of kneeling woman with two breast dots
母 is a pictograph derived from 女 (woman) with two added dots representing breasts, marking a nursing mother. The earliest oracle bone forms show a kneeling figure with prominent dots on the chest. The meaning has stayed remarkably stable, denoting 'mother' and by extension 'female' or 'source/origin'.