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給力

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also: 给力

Chinese

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to supply; provide; to
to supply; provide; to; for; for the benefit of; to give; to allow; to do something (for someone); (passive particle)
 
power; force; strength
trad. (給力)
simp. (给力)
Literally: “to provide with force”.
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Etymology

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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

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Adjective

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給力

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