parents – 父母 [bumo]
It comes from the Chinese characters 父 (pu) – father and 母 (mo) – mother.
Fragments
Which is first, heaven or earth? Heaven and earth? Or earth and heaven? Which is first? Likewise, is it mother and father? or father and mother? Which is first? In the case of a couple, husband and wife? or wife and husband? Which is first? People want to call a couple husband and wife. There is no one who wants to say, “Earth and heaven'”. Everyone refers to heaven and earth.
Therefore, which should be first? Heaven should be first. Then should come earth. However, the character 父母 [pumo] (parents), we may ask why 父 [pu] (father) should come first? It does not mean to ignore a woman.
Please, let me explain this. Women also may like it. (laughter) In the character for parents, the character 父 [pu] (father) comes first. If we look at the character 母 [mo] (mother) carefully, it is very interesting. The character 母 [mo] (mother) consists of two characters of 女 [yeo] (woman) combined and turned upside down.
The Chinese character 女 [Yeja] (woman) is also interesting. If the character is doubled and turned upside down, it becomes mother. Therefore, mother has the characteristics of two women, representing heaven and earth respectively. In other words, when a woman has the mind representing heaven combined with the mind representing the women of earth, true mother is produced. Is it interesting?
The character 父 [pu] (father), combines two characters 人 [in] (human being). That means that when the man representing heaven and the man representing earth are combined into one, he can be father. Is it interesting? (Yes!)
Cheon Seong Gyeong. Book 2. (59-182, 1972.7.16)
noun (명사), sino-korean
Hanja characters: 母，父