祖母 (zǔ mǔ) — paternal grandmother | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

Paternal grandmother — father's side, the formal/literary counterpart to 奶奶. Pair with 祖父 (paternal grandfather); maternal side is 外婆/外公.

noun

paternal grandmother

Measure word · 位

Examples

祖母，。
Wǒ zǔ mǔ jīn nián qī shí wǔ suì le, shēn tǐ hěn hǎo.
My grandmother is 75 this year and in good health.
祖母。
zǔ mǔ Cháng cháng gěi wǒ men jiǎng tā nián qīng shí hou de gù shi.
Grandmother often tells us stories from when she was young.
祖母。
Xiǎo shí hou wǒ měi nián shǔ jià dōu qù zǔ mǔ jiā.
When I was little, I went to my grandmother's house every summer vacation.

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

母mǔmother

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

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.

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Appears in

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