kung fu

Etymology

It is borrowed from Chinese 功夫 (gōngfu, “skill, expertise; effort and time spent on work”),^[2][3][4][1] written kung fu in the Wade–Giles romanization,^[2][5][1] in Cantonese 功夫 (gūngfu).^[2][6] The Chinese word was already used in Middle Chinese, by the 4th century or earlier.^[2] It is formed from 功 (gōng, “skill, achievement, merit”) and 夫 (fu), perhaps a suffix, written with the same character as the word for "man".^[2] The Oxford Dictionary of English and the Shorter Oxford gloss the parts as "merit" and "master",^[7][5] and the American Heritage Dictionary as "work" and "to support, assist", the whole as "cultivation of the spirit" in Middle Chinese.^[3] Barnhart and Etymonline speak of a dialectal Chinese word, Barnhart with the literal sense "boxing method",^[8][9] and Etymonline says that it is said to mean any skill acquired by study or practice.^[9] The first English sense follows French cong-fou, used by Amiot in 1779.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A Chinese form of physical exercise, with set positions of the body and controlled breathing, meant to prevent or cure illness: 1842, in a New York translation of a letter by the Comte de Mellet.^[2] The Shorter Oxford dates the word to the late 19th century.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The sense of a Chinese martial art, with or without weapons and marked by quick, flowing movements, is recorded from 1920, in the North-China Herald.^[2] Barnhart, Etymonline and Merriam-Webster date the word only to 1966,^[8][9][6] when it became a general Western term for the Chinese martial arts;^[9] Barnhart and the Shorter Oxford compare it to karate.^[8][5] In Chinese the word is used in many phrases for skill or effort in any field, such as skill in calligraphy, and Shaolin kung fu is literally "skill in the martial art of Shaolin".^[2]

Timeline

• 1842 – a Chinese system of exercise and breathing.^[2]
• 1920 – a Chinese martial art.^[2] Barnhart, Etymonline and Merriam-Webster date the word to 1966.^[8][9][6]

Meanings

Noun

1. Any of various Chinese martial arts, with or without weapons, practised for self-defence, exercise and spiritual growth: She has studied kung fu since she was ten.^[6][10][2]
2. A Chinese form of exercise using set body positions and controlled breathing to keep the body healthy.^[2]

Related words

• wushu
• Shaolin

Usage notes

The traditional Chinese (Mandarin) word for the martial arts as a whole is wushu.^[2] Merriam-Webster notes that the word is sometimes capitalized.^[6]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
4. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
9. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
10. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins