電力

でんりょく · denryoku · JLPT N2 · noun

electrical power

⚡ 電 = electricity + 力 = power, so 電力 = electric power

電 (den) means electricity and 力 (ryoku) means power or strength. Joined, they name the power that electricity supplies, such as a grid's output.

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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