努 (nǔ): to exert, to strive
努 (nǔ) is a Chinese character meaning “to exert.” Classified as HSK Level 3 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 奴 (phonetic) and 力 (semantic). It ranks #1080 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 努 strength. Its radical form 力 (power) appears in many related characters such as 动 (dòng, (of sth) to move), 力 (lì, power), 办 (bàn, to take care of (a matter)).
Definitions
- to exert
- to strive
Etymology & Origin
Stroke Order
Practice writing 努 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
HSK Vocabulary with 努
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 史努比proper-noun | shǐ nǔ bǐ | Snoopy (comic strip pet dog) |
| 努尔哈赤proper-noun | nǔ ěr hā chì | Nurhaci (1559-1626), founder and first Khan of the Manchu Later Jin dynasty 後金|后金 (from 1616) |
| 努比亚proper-noun | nǔ bǐ yà | Nubia |
| 瓦努阿图proper-noun | wǎ nǔ ā tú | Vanuatu, country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean |
| 奇努克 | qí nǔ kè | Chinook (helicopter) |
| 加大努力 | jiā dà nǔ lì | to try harder |
| 拜科努尔航天发射基地 | bài kē nǔ ěr háng tiān fā shè jī dì | Baikonur Cosmodrome |
| 努出 | nǔ chū | to extend |
| 因努伊特 | yīn nǔ yī tè | Inuit |
| 西哈努克proper-noun | xī hā nǔ kè | (King) Sihanouk (of Cambodia) |
| 努美阿proper-noun | nǔ měi ā | Nouméa, capital of New Caledonia |
| 支努干 | zhī nǔ gān | Chinook (helicopter) |
| 亚努科维奇proper-noun | yà nǔ kē wéi qí | Viktor Feyedov Yanukovych (1950-) Ukrainian politician |
| 努纳武特proper-noun | nǔ nà wǔ tè | Nunavut territory, Canada |
| 努克proper-noun | nǔ kè | Nuuk, capital of Greenland |
努 appears in 29 compound words: 45 as the first character, 7 as the last, and 48 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.
Strongest Collocations
Characters that most frequently co-occur with 努 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (4)
Example Sentences
了解努字的来源，有助于理解中国文化。
le xiè nǔ zì de lái yuán , yǒu zhù yú lǐ xiè zhōng guó wén huā .
Understanding the origin of the character "努" helps to comprehend Chinese culture.
NBA/打破新秀三分球纪录 黄蜂克努佩尔:以为7场就能破
N B A dǎ pò xīn xiù sān fēn qiú jì lù huáng fēng kè nǔ pèi ěr : yǐ wéi 7 chǎng jiù néng pò
NBA/Breaking rookie three-point shooting record Hornets Knupel: I thought I could break it in 7 games
...协委员履职尽责巡礼丨全国政协委员付小兵:努力推进创面救治体系建设
. . . xié wěi yuán lǚ zhí jǐn zé xún lǐ 丨 quán guó zhèng xié wěi yuán fù xiǎo bīng : nǔ lì tuī jìn chuàng miàn jiù zhì tǐ xì jiàn shè
... Fu Xiaobing, member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference: Strive to promote the construction of a wound treatment system
枸杞泡水、做养生操:这些美国人正努力活得像中国人
枸 杞 pāo shuǐ , zuò yǎng shēng cāo : zhè xiē měi guó rén zhèng nǔ lì huó dé xiàng zhōng guó rén
Goji berries soaked in water, doing health exercises: these Americans are trying to live like Chinese
巴克莱认为万科(02202)正努力避免彻底违约 这是一个积极信号
bā kè 莱 rèn wéi wàn kē ( 0 2 2 0 2 ) zhèng nǔ lì bì miǎn chè de wéi yuē zhè shì yī gè jī jí xìn hào
Barclays believes that Vanke (02202) is trying to avoid a complete default This is a positive sign
“春节在岗职工电台”敬你的坚守,敬你的努力!
chūn jié zài gǎng zhí gōng diàn tái jìng nǐ de jiān shǒu , jìng nǐ de nǔ lì !
"Spring Festival Employee Radio" respects your perseverance and efforts!
你知道我为了成为一名医生有多么努力吗？
Nǐ zhīdào wǒ wèile chéngwéi yī míng yīshēng yǒu duōme nǔlì ma?
Do you have any idea how hard I've studied to become a doctor?
要永远为明天努力！
Yào yǒngyuǎn wèi míngtiān nǔlì!
Always work hard for tomorrow!
我将会努力作贡献的！
Wǒ jiānghuì nǔlì zuò gòngxiàn de!
I will work hard to contribute!
你成功与否取决于你自身的努力。
Nǐ chénggōng yǔ fǒu qǔjuéyú nǐ zìshēn de nǔlì.
Whether you succeed or not depends on your own efforts.
Character Family
Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 力 (strength) component
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 努 (nǔ) mean in Chinese?
How many strokes does 努 have?
What is the radical of 努?
What are the components of 努?
What are common words containing 努?
What characters sound the same as 努 (nǔ)?
Is 努 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Practice writing 努 with real-time feedback
Trace stroke sequences, hear spoken pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.