gun fu

English

Etymology 1

Blend of gun +‎ kung fu.

Alternative forms

• gun-fu
• gunfu

Noun

gun fu (uncountable)

1. A style of sophisticated gunplay at close quarters, originating in Hong Kong action films.
   • 1985 July 2, Mike Pesarchick, “Clean Fun”, in Orlando Sentinel, page A.12:

     The Rev. Hugh Dalton runs a different kind of drive-in, one with no kung fu, bimbo fu, gun fu or any kind of violence. His establishment: The Gospel Film Drive-In.

   • 2006 July, Kim Newman, “Ultraviolet”, in Sight and Sound, volume 16, page 78:

     The gun-fu employed by the daintily fanged Jovovich seems like a development of the equally silly martial arts practised by Christian Bale in Wimmer's last dystopian action picture, Equilibrium (2002), but the director's vision has devolved from cod Orwell to riffing off bad girl art comic books and generally feeble posing.

Derived terms

• gun-fu (adj.)
• gun kata (a fictional martial arts resembling this type of gunplay)

Etymology 2

From Chinese 功夫 (gōngfu) through phonetic spelling.

Alternative forms

• gun-fu / gunfu
• kun fu / kun-fu / kunfu
• gung fu / gung-fu / gungfu
• gong fu / gong-fu / gongfu
• kong fu / kong-fu / kongfu
• kung fu / kung-fu / kungfu

Noun

gun fu (uncountable)

1. Alternative spelling of kung fu