The character 力 (lì): strength

A turquoise river under a golden sky, wooded hills and a red and gold pavilion among willows on the left bank. A dragon boat with a carved red and gold prow and a red drum carries five flat orange rower silhouettes leaning together, every paddle in the water on one side. On the right, above the water, the character 力 in very dark brown: a bar runs along the top, turns down the right into a hook, and a slanting stroke crosses it and runs to the lower left.

Pronunciation: lì
Strokes: 2
Level: HSK5
Radical: 力

What it means

power; force; strength; ability; strenuously

Where its shape comes from

Xu Shen sees a tendon here: "strength; a figuring of the shape of the human tendon". Palaeographers today read the earliest inscriptions quite differently, as a ploughing tool with its handle at the top and its forked point at the bottom, the very implement later written 耒 (lěi). Both readings sit side by side in the reference works. The second is the one that prevails today, and neither has been settled.

Source: Xu Shen, Shuowen Jiezi (121 CE); the Chinese University of Hong Kong character database, which follows the reading of the tool.

How it used to be written

Oracle bone script 商
Clerical script 東漢
See all 12 forms

Forms, sources and dates: the 字形演變 database of 小學堂, Academia Sinica, public domain (CC0).

A way to remember it

Take 刀, the knife you have just learned, and let its slanting stroke rise. In 刀 that stroke starts from the top bar and nothing shows above it; in 力 it begins ABOVE the bar, crosses it, and a small piece sticks out on the other side. That is the whole of what separates the two characters.

This is a memory aid, not the origin of the character.

Words it appears in

努力 nǔ lì · HSK3 to make an effort; to try hard; to strive; hard-working; conscientious
能力 néng lì · HSK4 capability; ability; CL:個|个[ge4]
压力 yā lì · HSK4 pressure
力气 lì qi · HSK4 physical strength
听力 tīng lì · HSK4 hearing; listening ability
巧克力 qiǎo kè lì · HSK4 chocolate (loanword); CL:塊|块[kuai4]

See the 69 HSK words built on 力, grouped by level.

Writing it

See the stroke order of 力, animated stroke by stroke.