接力
jiē lì · HSK 7
relay
🏃🏅 接力 = 接 (receive/hand over) + 力 (effort) = passing the effort on, a relay
In a relay race, each runner 接 receives the baton and adds their own 力 strength before handing it off. 接 means to connect or take over; 力 means force or effort.
接 — hand 扌 + concubine 妾 (phonetic)
接 is a semantic-phonetic compound. The hand radical 扌 carries the meaning of receiving or joining with the hand, while 妾 supplies the sound. From 'taking with the hand' it broadened to 'receive, meet, connect, join together'.
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'.