The term gungfu is one way to spell gōng-fu, 功夫 in an English context. Another way to write that word in English is "kung fu". There are several spellings because several systems of romanization (i.e., writing Chinese in Roman letters) are in use. The vowel sound that follows the "g" sound at the beginning of this word is most closely approximated by the "oo" in the English word "foot." "Fu" sounds like the "foo" in the English expression, "Oh, foo!"
In English language contexts, "gungfu" generally refers to the discipline of unarmed combat practiced since antiquity by the Chinese and later carried throughout the world in various styles. Sometimes it is known by its common Japanese name, "karate" (which originally was written with characters that mean "Chinese hand", and later came to be written with the homophonous characters for "empty hands" [fighting]). There are several other terms that describe this discipline, but the entire matter is complicated by the fact that people differ in their use of terms, and also because some broader terms apply to empty handed fighting but also to fighting that involves knives, swords, spears, etc., etc.
