sifu

See also: sìfú

English

Alternative forms

• shifu (from Mandarin), see 師傅／师傅 (shīfu)

Etymology

From Cantonese 師傅／师傅 (si1 fu6-2, “master”) and 師父／师父 (si1 fu6-2, “my master”), both also conveying the sense of teacher.

Noun

sifu (plural sifu or sifus)

1. A pair of Cantonese terms, homophones, used in English to mean "master" or "teacher" in the context of martial arts, especially kung fu and tai chi, also used to denote "spiritual father" in esoteric uses.
   • 1998, Dana Stabenow, Fire and Ice, page 134:

     Who is -- don't get cute with me, you dumb bastard, I'm your sifu.

Synonyms

• (martial arts): sensei
• (esoteric): guru

Translations

martial arts instructor

• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 師傅, 师傅 (si¹ fu⁶, si¹ fu²)

  Mandarin: 師傅 (zh), 师傅 (zh) (shīfu)

  Min Nan: 師傅 (zh-min-nan), 师傅 (sai-hū)

• Finnish: mestari (fi)
• French: sifu m, f, shifu m, f

• German: Shifu m, f
• Japanese: 先生 (ja) (せんせい, sensei)
• Korean: 사부 (ko) (sabu), 선생님 (ko) (seonsaengnim)
• Persian: سی‌فو‎‎ (si-fu)
• Russian: ши́фу m, f (šífu), си́фу m, f (sífu), ма́стер (ru) m (máster)
• Sanskrit: गुरु (sa) m (guru)

Anagrams

• FIUs, Sufi