Origin

This character combines the radical for "woman" or "female" on the left with a phonetic component on the right that hints at the pronunciation. The "woman" element appears to relate to the idea of interference or disruption — possibly drawing on an older sense of disturbance or opposition. The right component, read as "ho," guides you toward the character's sound without adding to its meaning. Over time, the character broadened beyond any original female-specific sense to mean "obstruct" or "hamper" in general contexts.