Kung fu (term)
| Kung fu | |||||||||||||||||||
| Chinese | |||||||||||||||||||
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| Transcriptions | |
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| Standard Mandarin | |
| Hanyu Pinyin | gōngfu |
| Wu | |
| Romanization | khon入 fu平 |
| Yue: Cantonese | |
| Jyutping | gung1 fu1 |
| Southern Min | |
| Hokkien POJ | kang-hu |
Kung fu/Kungfu or Gung fu/Gongfu (
i/ˌkʌŋˈfuː/ or /ˌkʊŋˈfuː/; , Pinyin: gōngfu) is a Chinese term referring to any study, learning, or practice that requires patience, energy, and time to complete. In its original meaning, kung fu can refer to any discipline or skill achieved through hard work and practice, not necessarily martial arts. The Chinese literal equivalent of "Chinese martial art" would be 中国武术 zhōngguó wǔshù.
It is only in the late twentieth century, that this term was used in relation to Chinese martial arts by the Chinese community. In the Western popular culture, the term "Kung fu" is often erroneously used as an umbrella term when specifically referring to Chinese martial arts. The Oxford English Dictionary defines the term "kung-fu" as "a primarily unarmed Chinese martial art resembling karate." This illustrates how the meaning of this term has been changed in English. The origin of this change can be attributed to the misunderstanding or mistranslation of the term through movie subtitles or dubbing.
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Wikipedia