如

Woman radical on the left — the indexing semantic. The original Confucian reading (now uncomfortable to modern eyes) explained 如 as 'a woman speaks in accordance' — the woman 女 follows the words 口. The character softened into the meaning 'as, like, according to', and the radical anchors 如 alongside 好 (good), 妈 (mother), 妹 (younger sister).

Mouth on the right — represents speech, the words being followed. Together with 女 it gave the original 'speaks-and-is-obeyed' picture. The meaning generalised from 'comply with what is said' to 'be like, resemble, accord with, as if', which is how 如 lives in modern grammar (如果 'if', 如何 'how', 比如 'for example').