kung fu
/ˈkʌŋ ˈfuː/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
rare/ˈkʊŋ ˈfuː/
kung fu noun: a Chinese martial art.
Noun
kung fu (countable and uncountable, plural kung fu)
- A Chinese martial art.
- Everybody was kung-fu fighting / Those kicks were fast as lightning1974, Carl Douglas, “Kung Fu Fighting”, performed by Carl Douglas
- Synonyms:
- wushu
- The Chinese martial arts collectively.
- 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.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
- Synonyms:
- wushu
- A mastery of or expertise in a skill
Verb
kung fu (third-person singular simple present kung fus, present participle kung fuing, simple past and past participle kung fued)
- To perform kung fu.
kung fu meaning in Hindi, Odia, Assamese and Nepali
kung fu in Hindi
- martial art
- कुंग फू kuṅg phū, कुंग फ़ू kuṅg fū
kung fu in Odia
- martial art
- କଙ୍ଗ୍ ଫୁ kaṅg phu
kung fu in Assamese
- martial art
- কুংফু kuṅphu, কুম্ফু kumphu
kung fu in Nepali
- martial art
- कुङ फू kuṅ phū
More languagesFewer languages
- kung fu in Tagalog
- kung fu
- kung fu in Arabic
- كُونْج فُو kung fū
- kung fu in Malay
- kung fu
- kung fu in Indonesian
- kungfu
- kung fu in Persian
- کونگ فو
- kung fu in Thai
- กังฟู gang-fuu
- kung fu in Vietnamese
- võ thuật Trung Quốc, kung fu, công phu
Synonyms of kung fu
Forms of kung fu
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | kung fu |
| alternative form | gongfu |
| alternative form | gong-fu |
| alternative form | gong fu |
| alternative form | gungfu |
| alternative form | gung-fu |
| alternative form | gung fu |
| alternative form | kungfu |
| alternative form | kung-fu |
| alternative form | Kung Fu |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | kung fus |
| present participle | kung fuing |
| past participle | kung fued |
| past | kung fued |
Origin of kung fu
From the Wade–Giles romanization of Mandarin 功夫 (gōngfu, “skill, accomplishment, martial art”): kung¹-fu⁵.
Words formed from kung fu
Words that rhyme with kung fu
Questions about kung fu
- What does kung fu mean?
- Kung fu means a Chinese martial art.
- What is kung fu in Hindi?
- Kung fu in Hindi is कुंग फू (kuṅg phū), कुंग फ़ू (kuṅg fū). See Kung fu meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is kung fu?
- Kung fu can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce kung fu?
- Kung fu is pronounced /ˈkʌŋ ˈfuː/.
- What is the plural of kung fu?
- The plural of kung fu is kung fu.
Words near kung fu in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: kung fu (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-kung fu.ogg.
Cite this entry: “kung fu.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/kung_fu. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.