Meanings
nounsifu (plural sifu or sifus)
plural sifus · alternative shifu
- A master or teacher in the context of martial arts, especially kung fu and tai chi.
Who is -- don't get cute with me, you dumb bastard, I'm your sifu.
1998, Dana Stabenow, Fire and Ice, page 1341 more example
[Aang (Zach Tyler Eisen):] Good morning, sifu Toph. [Katara (Mae Whitman):] Hey, you never call me sifu Katara.
2006 June 2, Aaron Ehasz, “Bitter Work” (1:55 from the start), in Ethan Spaulding, director, Avatar: The Last Airbender, season 2 (Book Two: Earth), episode 9, spoken by Aang and Katara (Zach Tyler Eisen and Mae Whitman)
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA spiritual father in esoteric contexts.
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Origin
Translations
Chinese Cantonese 師傅 /师傅
- 師傅 /师傅 (si¹ fu⁶, si¹ fu²)martial arts instructor
Chinese Mandarin 師傅 /师傅
- 師傅 /师傅 (shīfu)martial arts instructor
Finnish mestari
- mestarimartial arts instructor
French sifu, shifu
- sifumartial arts instructor
- shifumartial arts instructor
German Shifu
- Shifumartial arts instructor
Japanese 先生
- 先生 (sensei)martial arts instructor
Korean 사부, 선생님
- 사부 (sabu)martial arts instructor
- 선생님 (seonsaengnim)martial arts instructor
Persian سیفو
- سیفو (si-fu)martial arts instructor
Russian ши́фу, си́фу
- ши́фу (šífu)martial arts instructor
- си́фу (sífu)martial arts instructor
- ма́стер (máster)martial arts instructor
Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
APA
sifu. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sifu
MLA
“sifu.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sifu. Accessed November 3, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “sifu,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sifu.
Source: sifu on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.