Several parts combine into one character.

母 is built directly on top of 女 (woman): the woman-character with two added dots representing breasts feeding a child. Oracle bone forms are even more explicit. The encoding is anatomical and biological — "the woman who nurses". Identical across 繁體 / 新字体 / 简体.

The character generalizes from the body to "source / origin". Anything you came from is your "mother": 母校 (mǔxiào / bokō, alma mater — "mother school"), 母国 (mǔguó / bokoku, motherland), 母语 (mǔyǔ / bogo, mother tongue), 字母 (zìmǔ / jibo, alphabet — "letter mothers"). Notice the metaphor matches English exactly — "mother tongue", "alma mater" (Latin for "nourishing mother") — a near-universal pattern across cultures.

Mandarin: mǔ, dipping 3rd tone. 母亲 (mǔqīn, mother — formal), 母女 (mǔnǚ, mother and daughter), 父母 (fùmǔ, parents). Spoken Mandarin uses 妈妈 (māma) for "mom" in everyday speech.

Japanese repeats the same humble/polite split as 父. Self-referential humble: 母 (haha, kun-reading) — "うちの母は..." for your own mother. Polite/addressing: お母さん (okāsan) — for others' mothers or addressing your own. Familiar: 母さん (kāsan), and ママ (mama) for small children. On-reading ボ (bo) in 父母 (fubo, parents), 母校 (bokō, alma mater).

The character shows up as a phonetic in 海 (sea — water + mother) and 毎 (every — meaning "every birth/origin"), preserving the "source" metaphor.

Memory aid: a woman with two dots inside — the act of nursing encoded in two pen strokes.