潜力
qiánlì · HSK 6
possibility
💪 潜力 = hidden + strength — qián (submerged) + lì (power)
Water lurking beneath the surface has force you can't see yet. 潜 means submerged or latent, 力 means power. Together: untapped strength waiting to be released.
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'.