noun
Meaning 1
A Chinese martial art.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: wushu
Antonyms: none provided
Phrase guide
kung fu
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
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/ˈkʌŋ ˈfuː/
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US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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rare: /ˈkʊŋ ˈfuː/
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ko͝ong′ fo͞o′
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go͝ong′ fo͞o′
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/ˈkɔŋ ˈfuː/ rare, emulating Cantonese, also Singapore, Malaysia
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rhymes with -uː
noun
Meaning 2
The Chinese martial arts collectively.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, uncountable
Topics: government, hobbies, lifestyle, martial-arts, military, politics, sports, war
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: wushu
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 3
A mastery of or expertise in a skill
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, slang, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 4
A mastery of or expertise in a skill
A mastery of or expertise in computer programming, hacking, or cracking
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, slang, uncountable
Topics: computing, engineering, mathematics, natural-sciences, physical-sciences, sciences
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 5
To perform kung fu.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 6
a Chinese martial art
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: martial art
History
Etymology
From the Wade–Giles romanization of Mandarin 功夫 (gōngfu, “skill, accomplishment, martial art”): kung1-fu5.
Across languages
Translations
48 source translations are retained for this English entry.
- Arabic: كُونْج فُو (kung fū) — martial art
- Assamese: কুংফু (kuṅphu) — martial art
- Assamese: কুম্ফু (kumphu) — martial art
- Catalan: kung-fu — martial art
- Chinese Cantonese: 功夫 (gung1 fu1) — martial art
- Chinese: 功夫 (zh-min-nan) — martial art
- Chinese Mandarin: 功夫 (gōngfu) — martial art
- Dutch: kung fu — martial art
- Esperanto: kungfuo — martial art
- Estonian: kung-fu — martial art
- Finnish: kung-fu — martial art
- French: kung-fu — martial art
- German: Kung-Fu — martial art
- Greek: Κουνγκ-Φου (Koungk-Fou) — martial art
- Greek: κουνγκ φου (koungk fou) — martial art
- Hebrew: קוּנְג פוּ — martial art
- Hindi: कुंग फू (kuṅg phū) — martial art
- Hindi: कुंग फ़ू (kuṅg fū) — martial art
- Hungarian: kung fu — martial art
- Indonesian: kungfu — martial art
- Italian: kung fu — martial art
- Japanese: 功夫 (kanfū) — martial art
- Japanese: カンフー (kanfū) — martial art
- Japanese: ゴンフー (gonfū) — martial art
- Kazakh: кунг-фу (kuñ-fu) — martial art
- Khmer: កុងហ្វូ (kongfou) — martial art
- Korean: 쿵후 (kunghu) — martial art
- Malay: kung fu — martial art
- Nepali: कुङ फू (kuṅ phū) — martial art
- Odia: କଙ୍ଗ୍ ଫୁ (kaṅg phu) — martial art
- Persian: کونگ فو — martial art
- Polish: kung-fu — martial art
- Portuguese: kung fu — martial art
- Romanian: kung-fu — martial art
- Russian: кун-фу́ (kun-fú) — martial art
- Russian: кунфу́ (kunfú) — martial art
- Russian: кунг-фу́ (kung-fú) — martial art
- Russian: гунфу́ (gunfú) — martial art
- Spanish: kung-fu — martial art
- Swedish: kung fu — martial art
- Tagalog: kung fu — martial art
- Thai: กังฟู (gang-fuu) — martial art
- Tibetan: དྲག་རྩལ — martial art
- Uyghur: گۇمپا (gumpa) — martial art
- Vietnamese: võ thuật Trung Quốc — martial art
- Vietnamese: kung fu — martial art
- Vietnamese: công phu — martial art
- Yoruba: kọnfú — martial art