努力
nǔlì · HSK 2
try hard
💪 努 = slave (奴) + strength (力); 力 = strength → put slave-like strength into it
努 combines 奴 (slave) with 力 (strength), suggesting strenuous labor. 力 alone means strength or power. Together 努力 literally means to apply strenuous strength — to exert oneself, to try hard.
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'.