The Chinese Character for strength is an interesting word to study and understand. The image is supposedly derived from a pictograph of a tendon. I've always equated it somewhat to the bending of an arm or a tree, the ability to flex without breaking. That is the basis for this character, pronounced as "li".

It is important to note one should not mistaken this character for the very similar one for the number 9, which has a very similar look to it. However, the explanation for the character is different. It is believed that the character for 9 comes from the idea that you've almost reached 10, which resembles a +, but just miss it -- thus the tail end tapers down and outwards, trying to reach for 10.


Now that that's clear, let's get back to the word strength.

If you measure strength, liang, you get one form of "power". Liliang.

If you have a plan, tu, coupled with your strength you are "striving to" something. Litu.

Combined with the character for speech, you are "adding" or "increasing" something. Jia.

And if you put the world on the shoulders of the world strength (meaning it appears on top of the character), you end up with the word for "male". Nan.