功夫 gōngfu kung fu
kung fu; skill; art; labor
How to remember 功夫: 功 achievement + 夫 husband = kung fu.
Characters
How it is used
- Two senses: martial arts (kung fu) - 中国功夫 (Zhōngguó gōngfu); and time/effort spent - 下功夫 (xià gōngfu) put in effort, 费功夫 take effort.
- fu is neutral tone; the 'effort/skill honed by practice' sense is very common in daily speech.
- 花功夫 (huā gōngfu) = to spend time and effort; also written 工夫 in the time/effort sense.