実力
じつりょく · jitsuryoku · JLPT N3 · noun
ability
💪 実力 = real (実) + power (力): the strength you truly have
実 means real or actual, as in 事実 (fact) and 実は (actually). 力 means power, read りょく as in 能力 (ability). Together: actual power — your true ability, as opposed to reputation or luck.
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'.