Dictionary › 功夫

功夫

gōng fu

Old HSK 5 HSK 3.0 level 4 2-character word

功夫 (gōng fu) means "skill (built through practice/time)". It is an HSK 3.0 level 4 word, and was HSK 5 in the old six-level list.

What 功夫 means

1. skill
2. art
3. kung fu
4. labor
5. effort

The characters in 功夫

• 功gōngmeritorious deed or service; achievement; result
• 夫fūhusband; man; manual worker

Example sentences

• 我没功夫吃饭。
  I had no time to eat.
• 眨个眼的功夫，贡特就不见了。
  In a wink, Gunter was gone.
• 我想解决这个问题，可是白费功夫。
  Wǒ xiǎng jiějué zhège wèntí, kěshì báifèi gōngfu.
  I tried in vain to deal with the problem.
• 消防员一眨眼的功夫就把火给灭了。
  The firefighters put out the fire in the blink of an eye.
• 他有个很有意思但很费功夫的工作。
  He has an interesting job, for which he has to work a lot.
• 挺好，挺好，下一次再花点儿功夫就成功了。
  Good, good, next time use a bit more effort and you'll succeed.

Words starting with 功夫

• 功夫流感gōng fu liú gǎnChinese translation of "kung flu", a term used by US President Trump in 2020 to refer to…
• 功夫病毒gōng fu bìng dúkung flu
• 功夫茶gōng fu chávery concentrated type of tea drunk in Chaozhou, Fujian and Taiwan
• 功夫球gōng fu qiúsee 铁球

Words containing 功夫

• 做功夫zuò gōng futo practice (work skills)
• 抓功夫zhuā gōng futo maximize one's time; to catch some time out; to find enough time
• 只要功夫深，铁杵磨成针zhǐ yào gōng fu shēn , tiě chǔ mó chéng zhēnIf you work at it hard enough, you can grind an iron bar into a needle.…
• 下功夫xià gōng fuvariant of 下工夫

Sounds the same

Read gōng fu, tone for tone, but written differently.

• 工夫period of time (may be months, or mere seconds); spare time; skill

Where 功夫 is taught

In the GraphChinese course it is part of Ability, Achievement & Excellence (HSK 5), each one a topic in the dependency graph of HSK 1–6 that opens only once its prerequisites are solid.

Go deeper

• Every HSK 5 word, with the rest of its level.
• The four tones and the neutral tone, to read gōng fu correctly.
• Look up another word in the free dictionary.