martial art

English

Wikipedia

Etymology

Collocation of martial + art, coined in 1933 as a loan translation of Japanese bujutsu. But already in Pope's Iliad (1715, 4.360), and in Sotheby's Iliad (1831, book 6).

Noun

martial art (plural martial arts)

1. Commonly, any of several fighting styles which contain systematized methods of training for combat, both armed and unarmed; often practiced as a sport, e.g. boxing, karate, judo, Silat, wrestling, or Muay Thai.
2. military skills, proficiency in military strategy, prowess in warfare

   1832 ...of all the modes by which the advantage of his country may be secured, the martial arts and valour are those by which a Swiss the most hopes to promote it. (Richard Chenevix, An Essay Upon National Character: 4. On patriotism, p. 481).

Derived terms

• martial artist

Translations

fighting style

• Albanian: arti luftarak
• Asturian: arte marcial
• Azerbaijani: döyüş sənəti
• Bulgarian: бойно изкуство
• Catalan: art marcial
• Chinese: 武术 (wǔ shù)
• Croatian: borilačke vještine
• Czech: bojové umění
• Danish: kampsport
• Dutch: gevechtskunst f, gevechtssport f, krijgskunst
• Finnish: taistelulaji (fi), kamppailulaji (fi)
• French: art martial (fr) m
• Galician: arte marcial
• German: Kampfkunst, Kampfsport
• Greek: πολεμικές τέχνες
• Hebrew: אמנות לחימה
• Hungarian: harcművészet (hu)
• Icelandic: bardagaíþrótt

• Irish: ealaín oscartha
• Italian: arti marziali
• Japanese: 格闘技 （かくとうぎ）
• Korean: 무예 (武藝)
• Maltese: arti marzjali
• Norwegian: kampsport, kampaktivitet, kampkunst
• Persian: هنر رزمی (fa) (honar-e razmi)
• Polish: sztuki walki
• Portuguese: artes marciais
• Romanian: artă marțială
• Russian: единоборства
• Slovak: bojové umenie
• Slovene: borilne veščine, umetnosti bojevanja
• Spanish: arte marcial (es)
• Swedish: kampsport (sv)
• Turkish: dövüş sanatı
• Vietnamese: môn võ (vi), môn võ thuật (vi)

military prowess

• German: Kriegskunst

• Vietnamese: tài năng chiến đấu (vi)