父母
ふぼ · fubo · JLPT N2 · noun
mother
👪 父 father + 母 mother = 父母 both parents together
父 is read fu and means father; 母 is read bo and means mother. Their readings join to form fubo, and the word always lists father first.
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'.