積極的
せっきょくてき · sekkyokuteki · JLPT N3 · na-adj
active
🙋 積極的 = pile up (積) + to the extreme (極) + -ive (的)
積 means to pile up and 極 means the extreme or the pole. Together they mean pushing your effort all the way, which is what being proactive means. 的 works like the English -ive or -ic, so 積極的 is the adjective form: positive, active, proactive.
的 — white 白 + ladle 勺
Originally a phono-semantic compound: 白 ('white') gave the meaning of bright or clear, and 勺 supplied the sound. It once meant 'bright' or 'target' (still seen in 目的, 'aim'). In modern Chinese it was borrowed as a grammatical particle marking possession or modification.