尽量
jǐnliàng · HSK 3
to the best of one's ability
💪 尽量 = exhaust + quantity → use up the full amount you can
尽 means to exhaust/use up; 量 means quantity or measure. Together: stretch the quantity of effort to its limit, i.e. do as much as possible. Sounds like jin-liang, close to 'gin-lyang'.
尽 — hand 彐 holding brush over fire 灬
Originally depicted a hand holding a brush sweeping out the last embers in a vessel, suggesting 'finishing' or 'using up.' The simplified form 尽 replaces the older 盡, but keeps the core meaning of exhausting or completing something fully.
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).