: any of various Chinese martial arts and related disciplines that are practiced especially for self-defense, exercise, and spiritual growth

Examples of kung fu in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
In Karate Kid: Legends (which hits theaters Friday, May 30), a family tragedy forces kung fu prodigy Li Fong (American Born Chinese’s Ben Wang) to be uprooted from his home in Beijing and relocated to New York City. Nick Caruso, TVLine, 17 Dec. 2024 In what ways has your experience with scoring kung fu films influence your classical composing style? Kailyn Brown, Los Angeles Times, 3 Nov. 2024 The year is 1920, and the city of Tianjin — at the forefront of China’s push toward Westernization in the wake of the Eight-Nation Alliance — is policed by a network of kung fu academies that attend to any civil disorder within 100 yards of their doors. David Ehrlich, IndieWire, 6 Nov. 2024 Hong Kong martial arts cinema legend Sammo Hung brought jiangshi to the screen with 1980’s Encounters of the Spooky Kind, a silly kung fu horror-comedy that features a hilarious set piece as Hung comically evades a hopping corpse’s herky-jerky attacks. James Grebey, TIME, 18 Oct. 2024 See all Example Sentences for kung fu 

Word History

Etymology

Chinese (Beijing) gōngfu skill, art

First Known Use

1870, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of kung fu was in 1870

Dictionary Entries Near kung fu

Cite this Entry

“Kung fu.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/kung%20fu. Accessed 25 Dec. 2024.

Kids Definition

: a Chinese art of self-defense resembling karate

More from Merriam-Webster on kung fu

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!