能力
のうりょく · nouryoku · JLPT N3 · noun
ability
💪 能力 = able (能) + power (力): the power you're able to use
能 (のう) means able or talent. It's the same 能 as Noh theatre, whose name literally means skill. 力 (りょく) means strength, as in 努力 (effort). So skill plus strength gives ability.
能 — 厶 (head) + 月 (body/flesh) + 匕匕 (legs)
Originally a pictograph of a bear, showing its head, body, and powerful legs. Because bears were seen as strong and capable, the character was borrowed to mean 'ability' or 'can'. A new character 熊 (with the fire radical 灬) was later created for 'bear'.
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'.