The Chinese word **佛祖** is a compound term formed through semantic combination: the first character **佛** (Fó) means "Buddha," derived from the Sanskrit "Buddha," while the second character **祖** (zǔ) means "ancestor," "founder," or "patriarch." Together, they construct the meaning "Founder Buddha" or "Buddha the Patriarch," specifically referring to Siddhartha Gautama (Shakyamuni Buddha) as the historical founder of Buddhism. This type of word formation is common in Chinese, where two meaningful characters are joined to create a new, more specific concept—here, elevating "Buddha" with the honorific and ancestral connotations of "祖" to emphasize his role as the originator and revered teacher of the Buddhist tradition.