Kanji Kaisen

漢字Kanji · in Action & Movement

力: power, strength

Also: strong, strain, bear up, exert

JLPT N42 strokesGrade 1Your ink: 白 Not met
2 strokes
  • Oracle bone · Shang
  • Bronze · Western Zhou
  • Small seal · Qin
  • Today

Oracle bone and bronze: Wikimedia Commons, traced from Academia Sinica, CC0. Small seal: Academia Sinica 小學堂, CC0. Today’s form: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0.

Three readings, and the words that use each

リョクryoku · on'yomi · in compounds

  • 体力たいりょくphysical strength
  • 能力のうりょくability
  • 実力じつりょくreal ability
  • 努力どりょくeffort
  • 暴力ぼうりょくviolence
  • 権力けんりょく(political) power
  • 魅力みりょくcharm [n.]
  • 協力するきょうりょくするcooperate

リキriki · on'yomi

  • 人力車じんりきしゃrickshaw
  • 力むりきむstrain

ちからchikara · kun'yomi · on its own

  • 力ちからforce [n.]
  • 底力そこぢからlatent energy, potentiality

Also read リイ, with no example words in our sources. Words: Kanji alive, CC BY 4.0.

Learn it 4 steps
Print sheet Present
成り立ち

Where it comes from

Origin · sourced

Pictogram (象形)

Alternative interpretation, either an arm bending out from the side of the body, or a wooden plough.

Source: Wiktionary, 力 (rev. 92200013), CC BY-SA 4.0

Memory story · made up to help you remember

“Flex your arm and feel the power! That's 力, representing the raw muscle and effort required to change the world.”
More in the 力 power story
繋がり
Ink shades, lightest to darkest: 白 Not met, 淡 Met, 中 Learning, 濃 Familiar, 印 Mastered

Also read リョク

1 kanji shares this on'yomi

Easy to confuse

The difference, side by side
力 power
vs刀 sword
Compare the two shapes stroke by stroke.
In ChineseSame character in simplified and traditional · lì

Same form: 力 is written the same way in mainland China (simplified) and in Taiwan and Hong Kong (traditional).

Simplified
力 mainland China, Singapore
Traditional
力 Taiwan, Hong Kong

Pinyin lì most common reading

Forms and pinyin: Unicode Unihan database (Unicode License v3). Pinyin lists the most common reading, not every reading.

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