功夫

功夫 = Gōngfu = Gung1 Fu1 = Mastery of a skill over time through hard work

Alternative Meanings

• Time (to do something).
• Efforts (devoted to a task).
• Accomplishments, achievement.
• Skill; art; workmanship (especially in Chinese martial arts)

Originally, kung fu referred to any skill learned through great effort. Used by Westerners to refer to Chinese martial arts ( 武術 ), kung fu is now also sometimes used by Chinese to also refer to martial arts, but only since the late twentieth century.