kung fu

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See also: kungfu and kung-fu

English

Alternative forms

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/
  • (rare, emulating Cantonese) IPA(key): /ˈkɔŋ ˈfuː/
  • Rhymes: -uː

Noun

kung fu (countable and uncountable, plural kung fu)

  1. (countable) A Chinese martial art.
    Synonym: wushu
  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:
      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

Translations

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

Portuguese

Noun

kung fu m (uncountable)

  1. kung fu (Chinese martial art)

Swedish

Swedish Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia sv

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

References

Tagalog

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

Noun

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

  1. kung fu

Further reading

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