dān​lì

strive

dān utmost Simplified

Components

Meaning component
dǎi, è, dāi evil, bad

death

Sound component
dān single

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

lì, li power

Pictograph of a plow, which requires strength to operate.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Warring States ~400 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartlikk.rək strength

說文解字

《說文》:“力,筋也。象人筋之形。治功曰力,能圉大災。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫季旭昇《說文新證》p.918-919
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica

utmost Traditional

Components

Meaning component
dǎi, è, dāi evil, bad

death

Sound component
dān single

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangtaːn

說文解字

殛盡也。从歺單聲。

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica