浮力

ふりょく · furyoku · JLPT N1 · noun

buoyancy

浮 — water radical 氵 + 孚 (phonetic, 'hatch/trust')
浮 is a semantic-phonetic compound. The water radical 氵 gives the meaning 'water,' while 孚 supplies the sound and originally depicted a bird hatching an egg. Together they convey something resting on water, hence 'to float.'

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'.

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