大力
dàlì · HSK 6
vigorously
💪 大力 = big + strength → with great force
Compound of 大 (big/great) + 力 (strength/force). Used adverbially to mean doing something vigorously or with full effort, like 大力支持 (strongly support).
大 — pictograph of a person with arms outstretched
大 is a pictograph showing a person standing with arms and legs spread wide. The outstretched arms suggest 'big' or 'great', extending from the literal image of a large stance to abstract meanings like important or grand. It is one of the oldest characters, found on oracle bones.
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'.