引力
いんりょく · inryoku · JLPT N2 · noun
gravity
🍎 引力 = pull + force: gravity is the force that pulls
引 (in) means to pull or draw, as in 引く (hiku, to pull). 力 (ryoku) means power or force, as in 努力 (doryoku, effort). Together they make a pulling force, the one that drew Newton's apple to the ground.
引 — bow 弓 + vertical stroke 丨
A compound ideograph showing a bow 弓 with a vertical line 丨 representing the drawn bowstring. The original meaning was 'to draw a bow,' which extended to 'pull,' 'lead,' 'guide,' and 'cite.' The vertical stroke depicts the action of pulling the string back.
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'.