势 Origin — Chinese Character Wiki

shì HSK3

power

Phonosemantic compound. 力 represents the meaning and 执 represents the sound. Simplified form of 勢.

Components

力 Meaning component

lì, li power

执 Sound component

zhí hold in hand

Phonosemantic compound. 力 represents the meaning and 埶 represents the sound.

力 Meaning component

lì, li power

埶 Sound component

yì, shì art, skill

Change in sound

勢 and 埶 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
勢 *ŋ̊et-s
埶 *ŋ̊et-s

Regular Modern

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	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	syejH	ŋ̊et-s	circumstances, setting

《說文新附》：“勢，盛力，權也。从力，埶聲。”