Meanings
kung flu1
alternative Kung flu · alternative Kung Flu
- offensiveuncountableSynonym of COVID-19.First known use 2020
Hart: Kung Flu Virus will blow over
2020 February 20, headline, Chattanooga Times Free Press2 more examples
"By the way, it's a disease, without question, has more names than any other in history. I can name, ‘kung flu,’ I can name, 19 different versions of names," Trump said.
2020 June 23, Eliza Relman, quoting Donald Trump, “White House press secretary says Trump's racist 'kung flu' comment was 'linking' the coronavirus 'to its place of origin'”, in Business InsiderA source close to Mr Cummings said: 'From March through to the autumn, the PM said we should never have locked down. That was why he was so reluctant to do it again in November.' He said, 'the big danger is not Kung-Flu but the harm caused in trying to stop it.'
2021 May 25, Simon Walters, “PM 'wanted to be infected with Covid on live TV, called virus Kung-Flu and was slow to act because he was on holiday with Carrie'”, in Daily MailSynonyms: COVID-19
Kung Flu2
- alternativeuncountableAlternative form of kung flu.
Kung flu3
Synonyms & antonyms
nounSynonym of COVID-19.
Origin
Blend of kung fu + flu, in reference to the disease's presumed origin in Wuhan, China, in late 2019.
Full word history & related roots →Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with kung flu
All rhymes →Cite this entry
kung flu. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/kung%20flu
“kung flu.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/kung%20flu. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “kung flu,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/kung%20flu.
Source: kung flu on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.