to exert

to strive

slave sound (奴) + force (力) = to exert and strive

力 is the semantic heart here, representing muscular effort and physical force. 奴 mainly lends the sound nú; the force radical is what turns striving into the meaning.

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StrengthSemantic
SlavePhonetic

Words with 努

阿伊努

ā yī nǔ

Ainu (ethnic group of Japan's north and Russia's east)

亚努科维奇

yà nǔ kē wéi qí

Viktor Feyedov Yanukovych (1950-) Ukrainian politician

加大努力

jiā dà nǔ lì

to try harder

努嘴儿

nǔ zuǐ r

erhua variant of 努嘴[nu3 zui3]

努克

nǔ kè

Nuuk, capital of Greenland

努出

nǔ chū

to extend

努力

nǔ lì

to make an effort; to try hard; to strive

努力以赴

nǔ lì yǐ fù

to use one's best efforts to do sth (idiom)

努劲儿

nǔ jìn r

to extend

努嘴

nǔ zuǐ

to pout

努库阿洛法

nǔ kù ā luò fǎ

Nuku'alofa, capital of Tonga

努比亚

nǔ bǐ yà

Nubia

More characters with 奴