TSUMUGU · A2 (est.) · 字
祖
ㄗㄨˇ · zǔ
noun — ancestor, forefather; founder
字源 FORM — what the parts do
ITqiě → zǔ — initial and tone shifted off the donor
The altar (示) with 且, which lends the sound — qiě voiced to zǔ. 且 was itself a drawing of the stacked ancestral tablet, so it half-names the meaning too. 說文 reads the whole as 始廟, the first shrine. From the shrine come the forebears honored there: 祖先、祖父、祖國.
故事 STORY — a scene to remember it by
神桌（示）前立著祖先的牌位（且）——祖。
Before the altar (示) stands the stacked ancestral tablet (且) — the forefather.
字源記憶法
意 · Meanings
(本義)祖先、祖宗— ancestor, forefather常用
→祖父、祖母— grandfather, grandmother常用
⇒祖國、開山祖師— ancestral land; a founder
(本義) original meaning · → ⇒ each arrow = one more step of extension