力量
lìliàng · HSK 3
strength
💪 力量 = 力 (strength) + 量 (quantity/amount)
力 means strength or force; 量 means quantity or measure. Together 力量 literally reads as 'amount of strength' — i.e. power, might, or capability.
力 — pictograph of a plow or arm muscle
力 originated as a pictograph of an ancient plow, the main tool requiring physical exertion in early agriculture. Some scholars also see it as a flexed arm showing muscle. From this concrete image it broadened to mean 'strength, power, force, effort'.
量 — top 旦 (sunrise) + bottom 里 (village/measure)
Originally a pictograph of a funnel or measuring vessel used to gauge grain. The form evolved to suggest weighing at sunrise (旦) over a measured area (里). It split into two readings: liáng 'to measure' (the action) and liàng 'quantity' (the result).