体力

たいりょく · tairyoku · JLPT N1 · noun

strength

💪 体 (body) + 力 (strength) = 体力, the strength of the body

体 means body and 力 means power or strength. Put together they name the physical strength a body has. Read it as body + strength.

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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