The kanji 努 primarily conveys the meaning of "effort," "endeavor," "to strive," or "to make an effort." It represents the act of exerting oneself, working hard, and persisting in the face of challenges to achieve a goal. It implies diligence and a dedicated commitment to a task.

・On-yomi (音読み): ド (do) ・Kun-yomi (訓読み): つと（める） (tsuto(meru))

⚫︎ 努力 (doryoku) Translation: Effort; hard work. ⚫︎ 努力する (doryoku suru) Translation: To make an effort; to strive. ⚫︎ 精一杯努力します (seiippai doryoku shimasu) Translation: I will do my best; I will make every effort.

The kanji 努 is a 形声文字 (keisei moji), a phono-semantic compound character. The left side is 力 (chikara), meaning "power" or "strength", which is the semantic part and gives the meaning related to effort or labor. The right side is 奴 (dorei/do), which is the phonetic part and gives the sound. The original meaning of the character was likely related to the exertion of effort or labor.