马力
mǎ lì · HSK 7
horsepower
🐎 马 horse + 力 power = horsepower, the literal characters
马 (mǎ) is horse and 力 (lì) is power or force, so 马力 stacks them into horse-power exactly like the English term. The same 力 shows up in words about strength and effort.
马 — pictograph of a horse (simplified from 馬)
马 is a pictograph that originally depicted a horse in profile, with mane, legs, and tail clearly visible in the oracle bone and bronze script forms. The traditional form 馬 still preserves four dots representing the legs. The modern simplified form 马 streamlines these strokes but retains the same meaning: horse.
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'.