HSK 4 · Society

功夫 gōngfu “time and effort” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 功夫 means

  1. time and effort
  2. skill
  3. kung fu
  4. art
  5. labour
More meanings from CC-CEDICT
  • effort

How to say 功夫

  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale功gōng1st tone, high and level
  • Pitch chart of the neutral tone: short and light, with no contour of its own夫funeutral tone, light and short

Grey pinyin is a neutral tone: say it short and light. More on the neutral tone

功夫 in a sentence

  1. 挺好，挺好，下一次再花点儿功夫就成功了。

    Tǐng hǎo, tǐng hǎo, xià yí cì zài huā diǎnr gōngfu jiù chénggōng le.

    Good, good – put in a bit more effort next time and you’ll succeed.

    Sentence #899352 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 他有个很有意思但很费功夫的工作。

    Tā yǒu ge hěn yǒu yìsi dàn hěn fèi gōngfu de gōngzuò.

    He has a very interesting but time-consuming job.

    Sentence #333461 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 功夫 is built

Each colour is one part of the character. Parts repeat across thousands of characters, so learning them makes new words easier. See all 214 in our radicals chart.

The character 功 (gōng) with each of its parts in a different colour
功gōngmeritorious deed or service
  • 工work · gōng
  • 力strength · lì
The character 夫 (fū) with each of its parts in a different colour
夫fuhusband
  • 一one · yī
  • 大big · dà

Memory aidA grown man 大 with a hairpin 一 across his head: a man, a husband.

How to write 功夫

功 5 strokes · 夫 4 strokes

Watch the order, then press Try writing it and draw each stroke in the grid. Each stroke is checked as you go.

功夫 (gōngfu) stroke order chart: each stroke of the characters in the order you write them
Stroke order chart for 功夫 (gōngfu). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.

Words related to 功夫

Words with 功

成功chénggōng · success用功yònggōng · hard-working (at study)功能gōngnéng · function气功qìgōng · qigong (breathing exercises)功劳gōngláo · credit功效gōngxiào · effect急功近利jígōngjìnlì · eager for quick results and profit

Words with 夫

丈夫zhàngfu · husband夫妻fūqī · husband and wife大夫dàifu · doctor夫妇fūfù · married couple夫人fūrén · madam

More words: School, Work & Culture

职业zhíyè · occupation作家zuòjiā · writer表演biǎoyǎn · to perform法律fǎlǜ · law规定guīdìng · to stipulate国籍guójí · nationality京剧Jīngjù · Beijing opera聚会jùhuì · party

FAQs

功夫 (gōngfu) means “time and effort” or “skill”. It is an HSK 4 word.
Say it gōngfu: gōng with a 1st tone, then fu with a neutral tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 功夫 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type gongfu with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 功夫 from the suggestions. Typing gongfu into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
功夫 is an HSK 4 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.

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Sources: meaning and pinyin checked by a native Mandarin teacher against the official HSK lists. Extra meanings from CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0). Example sentences from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.