有力
yǒulì · HSK 5
strong
💪 有力 = 有 (have) + 力 (strength) — to have strength means forceful
A compound: 有 means 'to have/possess' and 力 means 'strength/force/power'. Together they literally read as 'having strength', i.e. forceful, potent, powerful. The 力 character itself is the root for many strength-related words.
有 — hand 𠂇 + moon/meat 月
Originally depicted a hand holding a piece of meat (月 here is the 'meat' radical, not moon), expressing the idea of possessing something. Over time the meaning broadened from 'to hold/possess' to the general sense of 'to have' or 'there is/exists'.
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'.