财力
cáilì · HSK 7
financial resources
💰💪 cái (wealth) + lì (power) = wealth-power, your financial muscle
The first character 财 means wealth or money, while 力 means strength or power. Together they literally form 'wealth-strength' — the financial resources or monetary clout someone can bring to bear.
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'.