entries → 查
TSUMUGU · TOCFL 2 (est.) · 字
查 character · TOCFL 2 (est.)
查 ＝ 木 ＋ 且
ㄔㄚˊ · chá
verb — to check, examine, look up

字源 FORM — what the parts do

木義wood — a wooden tablet
且聲qiě — gives the soundalso reads zǔ; the donor sits stacked-blocks plain
IFT≠qiě → chá, a hard wrench off the donor — the same 且 in 祖 zǔ, 阻 zǔ
Wood (木) over 且. 且 lends the sound, though it has wandered far — the donor reads qiě, and steadies 祖、阻 at zǔ. You pull the wooden tablet and read down it: to check, to look up.

故事 STORY — a scene to remember it by

一塊木牌（木）一塊木牌（且）疊著，抽一塊出來，從頭數到尾。
Wooden slips (木) stacked on slips (且) — you slide one out and run your eye down it, top to bottom.
字源記憶法
意 · Meanings
(本義)檢查、查看— to check, examine常用
→調查— to investigate
→查找、查字典— to look up; to search
(本義) original meaning · → ⇒ each arrow = one more step of extension
關 · Related
且qiěthe bare phonetic — 查 sets 木 on top, 且 stands alone as "moreover"渣zhāthe same 查 frame with 氵 for dregs in water