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

From the Wade–Giles romanization of Mandarin 功夫 (gōngfu, “skill, accomplishment, martial art”): kung¹-fu⁵.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkʌŋ ˈfuː/

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• IPA^(key): (rare) /ˈkʊŋ ˈfuː/
• enPR: ko͝ong′ fo͞o′, go͝ong′ fo͞o′
• (rare, emulating Cantonese, also Singapore, Malaysia) IPA^(key): /ˈkɔŋ ˈfuː/
• Rhymes: -uː

Noun

kung fu (countable and uncountable, plural kung fu)

1. (countable) A Chinese martial art.

   Synonym: wushu

   • 1974, Carl Douglas, “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

   • 2021 March 31, Melissa Chen, “Opinion ‘Kung Fu Cavemen’ isn’t racist — just the victim of moral panic by a self-righteous few”, in New York Post‎^[1]:

     Along the way, they meet Master Wong, who teaches them kung fu and imparts nuggets of Chinese philosophy, knowledge and training that they eventually use to defeat their nemesis and save their village.

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
• gun fu
• kung flu
• wire fu

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)

  Hokkien: 功夫 (zh-min-nan) (kang-hu)

  Mandarin: 功夫 (zh) (gōngfu)

• 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)
• Hungarian: kung fu (hu)
• Indonesian: kungfu (id)
• Italian: kung fu (it) m
• Japanese: 功夫 (ja) (kanfū), カンフー (ja) (kanfū), ゴンフー (gonfū)
• Kazakh: кунг-фу (küwng-fuw)
• Khmer: កុងហ្វូ (kongfou)
• Korean: 쿵후 (kunghu)
• Malay: kung fu
• Nepali: कुङ फू (kuṅ phū)
• Odia: 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 (es) 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

Verb

kung fu (third-person singular simple present kung fus, present participle kung fuing, simple past and past participle kung fued)

1. To perform kung fu.

Further reading

• Chinese martial arts on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Portuguese

Noun

kung fu m (uncountable)

1. kung fu (Chinese martial art)

Swedish

Noun

kung fu

1. kung fu (Chinese martial art)

   Jag kan kung fu

   I know kung fu

   en kung fu-film

   a kung fu movie

   en kung fu-mästare

   a kung fu master

Derived terms

• kung fu-film

References

• “kung fu”, in Svensk ordbok [Dictionary of Swedish] (in Swedish)

Tagalog

Etymology

Borrowed from English kung fu, from the Wade–Giles romanization (kung¹-fu⁵) of Mandarin 功夫 (gōngfu, “skill, accomplishment, martial art”).

Pronunciation

• (Standard Tagalog) IPA^(key): /kuŋ ˈfu/ [k̠ʊm ˈfʊ]
  • IPA^(key): (with nativization) /kuŋ ˈpu/ [k̠ʊm ˈpʊ]
• Rhymes: -u
• Syllabification: kung fu

Noun

kung fu (Baybayin spelling ᜃᜓᜅ᜔ ᜉᜓ) (martial arts)

1. kung fu

Further reading

• “kung fu”, in Pambansang Diksiyonaryo | Diksiyonaryo.ph, 2018