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)

• (rare) IPA^(key): /ˈkʊŋ ˈfuː/
• (rare, 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)

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

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

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

Portuguese

Noun

kung fu m (uncountable)

1. kung fu (Chinese martial art)

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/ [kʊm ˈfu]
  • IPA^(key): (more native-sounding) /kuŋ ˈpu/ [kʊm ˈpu]
• 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, Manila, 2018