Created for Hokkien. Ngô͘ Siú-lé (吳守禮) suggests that it is an ideogrammic compound (會意): 毛(“feathers (representing the feathers of a mother hen)”) + 灬(“four dots (representing four chicks)”) — a mother hen leading and protecting four chicks under her feathers.
Iâ-hô-hoa kiâⁿ tī in ê thâu-chêng, ji̍t--sî tī hûn-thiāu-tiong chhōa in ê lō͘, mî--sî tī hé-thiāu-tiong kng-chiò in; hō͘ in ji̍t-mî lóng thang kiâⁿ.[Pe̍h-ōe-jī]
And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night.
In Mandarin, this word is only used in names, such as 𤆬治 (chhōa-tī in Min Nan, homophone of 𤆬弟, "to lead to a brother"), given to girls to lead to the birth of a son.
