Chinese

Adjective

努力

1. hard-working; diligent; industrious

Synonyms

• 刻苦 (kèkǔ)
• 耐勞／耐劳 (nàiláo)
• 勤奮／勤奋 (qínfèn)
• 勤勞／勤劳 (qínláo)
• 勤勉 (qínmiǎn)

Adverb

努力

1. diligently

Verb

努力

1. to strive; to endeavor; to work hard

   要是現在不努力的話，將來會後悔的。 [MSC, trad.]

   要是现在不努力的话，将来会后悔的。 [MSC, simp.]

   Yàoshì xiànzài bù nǔlì dehuà, jiānglái huì hòuhuǐ de. [Pinyin]

   If you don't work hard now you'll regret it later on.

Synonyms

• 勉力 (miǎnlì)

Noun

努力

1. endeavor; ability

   盡最大的努力 / 尽最大的努力  ―  jìn zuìdà de nǔlì  ―  to do all one can

See also

• (Min Nan) 拍拼 (phah-piàⁿ)
• (Cantonese) 畀心機／畀心机 (bei2 sam1 gei1)

Japanese

Etymology

From Middle Chinese compound 努力 ‎(nuo li̯ək, literally “to exert + strength”). Compare modern Cantonese reading nou⁵ lik⁶ or Hakka ló͘-le̍k.

Pronunciation

• On'yomi: Kan'on
• (Tokyo) ど​りょく [dóꜜryòkù] (Atamadaka - [1])^[1][2]
• IPA^(key): [do̞rjo̞kɯᵝ]

Noun

努力 ‎(hiragana どりょく, romaji doryoku)

1. an effort, an endeavor

Synonyms

• 労力 (ろうりょく) ‎(rōryoku), 尽力 (じんりょく) ‎(jinryoku)

Verb

努力する ‎(hiragana どりょくする, romaji doryoku suru)

1. to endeavor, to make an effort

   彼 (かれ)は試験 (しけん)に合格 (ごうかく)するために努力 (どりょく)した。

   Kare wa shiken ni gōkaku suru tame ni doryoku shita.

   He worked hard to pass the exam.

Conjugation

Synonyms

• 努 (つと)める ‎(tsutomeru)

References

1. ↑ 2006, 大辞林 (Daijirin), Third Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, ISBN 4-385-13905-9
2. ↑ 1998, NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 (NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: NHK, ISBN 978-4-14-011112-3

• 2002, Ineko Kondō; Fumi Takano; Mary E Althaus; et. al., Shogakukan Progressive Japanese-English Dictionary, Third Edition, Tokyo: Shōgakukan, ISBN 4095102535.

Korean

Noun

努力 • ‎(noryeok) ‎(hangeul 노력)

1. Hanja form^? of 노력, “an effort, an endeavor”.