給力

See also: 给力

Chinese

		to supply; provide; to to supply; provide; to; for; for the benefit of; to give; to allow; to do sth (for sb); (passive particle)	power; force; strength
trad. (給力)		給	力
simp. (给力)		给	力
Literally: “to provide with force”.

Etymology

Originally a localism from Northern China, meaning “energetic, forceful; exciting, interesting”.

Allegedly popularized by a viral fandub video of an episode from the Japanese anime Gag Manga Biyori. In the episode "Saiyūki: The end of the journey", one peculiar line was 「這就是天竺麼？不給力啊老濕！」／“这就是天竺么？不给力啊老湿！” (“This is India? This is not exciting at all, teacher.”), uttered by Sun Wukong after discovering that, in the supposedly sacred place of Tianzhu they had arrived at, there was only a small streamer with the two characters for “Tianzhu” written on it.

Etymology from other Chinese dialects, for example Min Nan 激力 (kek-la̍t, “to exert oneself”) or Hainan Lingao dialect 給力／给力 (“to provide with force, to beat”), may also be possible.

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): gěilì

  (Zhuyin): ㄍㄟˇ ㄌㄧˋ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): kap¹ lik⁶

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: gěilì
    • Zhuyin: ㄍㄟˇ ㄌㄧˋ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: gěilì
    • Wade–Giles: kei³-li⁴
    • Yale: gěi-lì
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: geeilih
    • Palladius: гэйли (gɛjli)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /keɪ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹ li⁵¹/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)
    • Jyutping: kap¹ lik⁶
    • Yale: kāp lihk
    • Cantonese Pinyin: kap⁷ lik⁹
    • Guangdong Romanization: keb¹ lig⁶
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /kʰɐp̚⁵ lɪk̚²/
    • Homophones:

      edit edit 吸力 給力／给力

Adjective

給力

1. (neologism) awesome; cool; fantastic; powerful; exciting; fashionable; desirable