Definition
功夫 (gōng fu) has two distinct senses: 'time and effort spent on something' and 'kung fu, Chinese martial arts'. It is easily confused with 工夫 (gōng fu, HSK6), which only means 'time, spare time' and never refers to martial arts. For martial arts, 武术 (wǔ shù, HSK5) is the formal term; 功夫 is broader and implies skill developed through practice.
noun
time and effort (spent on something)kung fuChinese martial artsskillartcraft
Easily confused
- 工夫gōng fusound-aliketime; period of time
Examples
- 功夫。Tā xià le hěn duō gōng fu cái xuéhuì.He put in a lot of effort before he learned it.
- 功夫。Tā liàn le shí nián gōng fu.He has practiced kung fu for ten years.
- 。Tā huà huà hěn yǒu gōng fu.He is very skilled at painting.
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