kung fu

See also: kungfu and kung-fu

English

Alternative forms

• gongfu, gong-fu, gong fu, gungfu, gung-fu, gung fu, kungfu, kung-fu, Kung Fu

Etymology

Based on the Wade-Giles romanization of Mandarin 功夫 (gōngfu, “skill, or accomplishment”) (: kung¹-fu⁵, Pinyin: gōngfu, /kʊŋ˥˥fu/).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkʌŋ ˈfuː/

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• IPA^(key): /ˈkʊŋ ˈfuː/
• (emulating Cantonese) IPA^(key): /ˈkɔŋ ˈfuː/

Noun

kung fu (countable and uncountable, plural kung fu)

1. (countable) A Chinese martial art.

   Synonym: wushu

   • 1974, Carl Douglas (lyrics and music), “Kung Fu Fighting”, performed by Carl Douglas:

     Everybody was kung-fu fighting / Those kicks were fast as lightning

2. (martial arts) The Chinese martial arts collectively.

   Synonym: wushu

3. (slang) A mastery of or expertise in a skill
   1. (slang, computing) A mastery of or expertise in computer programming, hacking, or cracking

Derived terms

• -fu, wire fu, kung flu

Translations

martial art

• Arabic: كُونْج فُو m (kung fū)
• Assamese: কুংফু (kuṅphu), কুম্ফু (kumphu)
• Burmese: ^{(please verify)} ကွန်ဖူး (kwanhpu:)
• Catalan: kung-fu m
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 功夫 (gung¹ fu¹)

  Mandarin: 功夫 (zh) (gōngfu)

  Min Nan: 功夫 (zh-min-nan) (kang-hu)

• Dutch: kung fu (nl) m or f
• Esperanto: kungfuo
• Estonian: kung-fu
• Finnish: kung-fu
• French: kung-fu (fr) m
• German: Kung-Fu (de) n
• Greek: Κουνγκ-Φου (Koungk-Fou), κουνγκ φου (koungk fou)
• Hebrew: קוּנְג פוּ (he) (kung fu)
• Hindi: कुंग फू (kuṅg phū), कुंग फ़ू (kuṅg fū)
• Indonesian: kungfu (id)
• Japanese: 功夫 (ja) (kanfū), カンフー (kanfū), ゴンフー (gonfū)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Kazakh: кунг-фу (kuñ-fu)
• Khmer: កុងហ្វូ (kongfou)
• Korean: 쿵후 (kunghu)
• Malay: kung fu
• Nepali: कुङ फू (kuṅ phū)
• Oriya: କଙ୍ଗ୍ ଫୁ (kaṅg phu)
• Persian: کونگ فو (fa) (kung fu)
• Polish: kung-fu (pl) n
• Portuguese: kung fu (pt) m
• Romanian: kung-fu
• Russian: кун-фу́ (ru) n (kun-fú), кунфу́ (ru) n (kunfú), кунг-фу́ (ru) n (kung-fú), гунфу́ (ru) n (gunfú)
• Spanish: kung-fu m
• Swedish: kung fu (sv) c
• Tagalog: kung fu
• Thai: กังฟู (th) (gang-fuu)
• Tibetan: དྲག་རྩལ (drag rtsal)
• Uyghur: گۇمپا (gumpa)
• Vietnamese: võ thuật Trung Quốc (武術中國) (literally Chinese wushu), kung fu (vi), công phu (vi) (功夫)
• Yoruba: kọnfú

Further reading

• kung fu (term) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Chinese martial arts on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

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Portuguese

Noun

kung fu m (uncountable)

1. kung fu (Chinese martial art)

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Tagalog

Etymology

Borrowed from English kung fu, from Wade-Giles romanization of Mandarin 功夫 (gōngfu, “skill, or accomplishment”) (: kung¹-fu⁵, Pinyin: gōngfu, /kʊŋ˥˥fu/).

Pronunciation

• Hyphenation: kung‧fu
• IPA^(key): /kuŋ ˈfu/, [kʊm ˈfu]

Noun

kung fú

1. (martial arts) kung fu

Further reading

• “kung fu” at KWF Diksiyonaryo ng Wikang Filipino‎^[1], Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino, 2021