活力
かつりょく · katsuryoku · JLPT N2 · noun
vitality
🔋 活 (alive) + 力 (power) = living power, the energy of being alive
活 means alive or live, and 力 means power or strength. Put together they name the force that keeps a living thing going: vitality.
活 — water radical 氵 + tongue 舌
Originally a phono-semantic compound: 氵 (water) suggests flowing or liveliness, while 舌 (tongue) hints at the sound. Early forms depicted gushing water, conveying the idea of being lively or alive. The meaning broadened from 'flowing water' to 'living, alive, active.'
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'.