공부
gongbu · TOPIK 1
study, studying
📚 工夫 = work + effort: studying is effort put to work; same word as kung fu
공부 comes from hanja 工夫 (work + labour). In Chinese the same characters read gongfu, the source of kung fu: skill earned through sustained effort. Korean narrowed that sense to study, so gongbu is kung fu for the brain.