极力
jílì · HSK 7
sparing no effort
💪 极力 = 极 extreme + 力 strength/effort = putting in extreme effort, sparing none
极 means extreme or utmost; 力 means strength or effort. Together they mean to do something to the utmost degree of effort. The jí in jílì shares its sound with 急 (urgent), a verbal hook for that all-out push.
极 — wood radical 木 + 及 (jí, phonetic)
极 is a semantic-phonetic compound: 木 (wood) hints at the meaning, since the original sense was the ridgepole — the highest beam of a roof. 及 supplies the sound 'jí'. From 'topmost beam' the meaning extended to 'extreme, utmost, pole', as in 北极 (North Pole).
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'.