TSUMUGU · B1 · 字
購
購 ＝ 貝 ＋ 冓
ㄍㄡˋ · gòu
verb — to buy, purchase, procure
字源 FORM — what the parts do
冓聲gòu — gives the soundtwo frames interlocking; worn down inside the modern graph, not a piece you can read off it
A cowrie shell (貝), money laid out, and 冓 gòu for the sound — 冓 buried on the right, no longer legible alone. 說文 reads it 以財有所求也 — to use wealth to get what one seeks: to buy (購買), to shop (購物), to procure in bulk (採購). It rides the 冓 series: 構、講、溝.
故事 STORY — a scene to remember it by
把錢（貝）擺出去，換回要的東西——購。
Laying the money (貝) down to bring back what one wants — to buy.
字源記憶法
意 · Meanings
(本義)購買、採購— to buy, procure常用
→購物、選購— to shop; to shop around for
⇒訂購、收購— to order; to buy up
(本義) original meaning · → ⇒ each arrow = one more step of extension