embargo

Embargo comes from Spanish embargar, "to arrest," which traces to late Latin imbarricāre, "to bar," built from Latin in- plus Vulgar Latin barra, "bar, barrier."

The word began with the physical image of barring something shut, then narrowed in Spanish to mean seizing or arresting goods or ships, before entering English as the official term for a government-imposed trade restriction.

It shares its root with the humble English word "bar" — both descend from that same Vulgar Latin barra, the barrier you'd throw across a door.