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Glossary of Tai Chi Chuan Terms A-Z

太極拳英文詞彙 A-Z

Glossary of Common Tai Chi Chuan Competition Terms

   太極拳比賽用語 （中英對照Chinese-English）

編者的話

          編者自從就任太極拳國際聯盟總會秘書長以來，一直努力於促進太極拳界國際間的交流。而其中碰到的一大問題就是太極拳用語的英文翻譯。 因此編者參考各類書籍及網路上國內外各家用語，而將其收入在本詞彙彙編中。
         如上所言，本詞彙彙編很多詞彙來自網路，我們只是把它們整理出來，供國內外對太極拳運動推廣有興趣的人士參考。有一些也做了直接的連結，有興趣的讀者可以直接上他們的網站，這樣就能更清楚的了解他們原來的說明。因為引用來源相當多，對被引用者無法一一道謝，我們只能將引用較多詞條的書籍或網站列於下面，所以要從這裡引用的人要感謝我列在下面的各網站的網主及書籍的作者。但本彙編引用相當多太極拳總會吳榮輝副理事長所著多本中英文太極拳書籍中的詞彙，在此特別予以致謝。如果對其或其它網站有興趣也可以直接上其網站搜尋。
        在本彙編中，中文詞條大部分使用1995 年被聯合國宣佈為中文官方系統的羅馬拼音，但也收錄一些已被大家廣泛使用的Wade-Giles 拼音，也有一些甚至是粵語拼音。大多數術語都翻譯成英文並且進行一些簡單的解釋，但不能保證每個術語都有準確的定義。詞條的中文則以台灣現在使用的繁體字為主，學簡體字的人士，可以很輕鬆的透過Google翻譯了解。不同家的英文翻譯，用分號隔開。大小寫部分，因為引用的原文大小寫都有，不再細分。有的詞會連成一字，有的又分開寫，只照原文引用，不做統一。英文詞條因為其字義已經相當清楚，就只註明中文相對語詞及其發音，提供外籍人士參考，若要了解更深入的意思，可查中文相對的詞條。
       本彙編並非營利用途，也不是宣揚某一團體或派別，純粹是方便大家使用英文來溝通太極拳的理念，並促進東西方文化的交流。但如有覺得不舒服或不喜歡讓人引用的作者，請直接email給我們，我們一定會將原文從本網路上消除。也希望大家加入我們編輯團隊，讓太極拳更能夠普及於全世界，以促進全人類身體的健康與和平。如果任何人有更好的翻譯，也衷心的歡迎您們能夠提供給我們，謝謝。對其中一些明顯錯誤的翻譯，當然歡迎大家不吝指正，讓我們有改進的空間。我們希望這是一個大家共同的園地，也希望隨著時間的推移，我們的詞條將不斷的增加，翻譯也越來越完善，造福更多的太極拳愛好者。我們更希望您們會發現此列表是一個有用的資源，並善加利用它。謝謝大家。

蔡孟宏

About the Glossary

Dear Tai Chi friends,    

    Greetings from Taipei, Taiwan, where I'm both tremendously honored and deeply humbled to have been appointed by Mr. Ye Wenkuan (葉文寬）, the newly elected chairman, to serve as Secretary General of The World Tai Chi Federation (the former The Int’l Tai-Chi Chuan Federation), which was established in 1980 in Taiwan, Republic of China.       

I have been working hard to promote international exchanges in the Tai Chi Chuan world since I took office. One of the major problems we often encounter is the communication of Tai Chi Chuan words. Therefore, we try to collect terms from various domestic and foreign sources, be they books or the Internet, and include them in this glossary.

       As mentioned above, many words in this glossary come from the Internet, and we just sort them out as reference for those who are interested in the promotion of Tai Chi Chuan at home and abroad. Some have also made direct links, and interested readers can go directly to their website, so that they can understand their original description more clearly. Because there are quite a lot of cited sources, we can't thank the cited people one by one. We can only list the higher-cited books or websites. However, this compilation cites a lot from quite a few Chinese and English Tai Chi Chuan books written by Wu Ronghui, the Vice Chairman of the National Tai Chi Chuan Association of ROC. Special thanks are given here. Therefore, those who want to quote from here should thank the book authors or the websites listed below.  If you are interested in their websites, you can also search them directly.

      In this compilation, most of the Chinese entries use Roman Pinyin, which was declared the official Chinese system by the United Nations in 1995, but also include some Wade-Giles Pinyins that have been widely used, and some Cantonese Pinyin. Most terms are translated into English with some simple interpretations, but there is no guarantee that every term has a precise definition. 

      The Chinese of the entry is mainly based on the traditional Chinese characters currently used in Taiwan. Those who learn simplified Chinese characters can easily understand them through Google Translate. English translations of different sources are separated by semicolons. As for the upper and lower case, because the quoted original texts have both upper and lower case, the difference between them is ignored. Some quoted words are combined into one word, and some are written separately, but if they do not yield different meanings, the difference is ignored too. Because the meanings of English entries are quite clear, only the Chinese corresponding words and their pronunciations are listed for reference.

      This compilation is not for profit use, nor does it promote a certain group or faction.    Our main goal is to help practitioners to grasp concepts around some of the terminology that is being used in the Tai Chi Chuan  world and to enhance cultural understanding and exchanging between East and West.  However, if you do feel uncomfortable or do not like your text(s) to be quoted, please email us directly, and we will definitely remove the original text(s) from this network. I also hope that you will join our editorial team to make Tai Chi more popular all over the world, so as to promote the health and peace of all human beings. If you have a better translation or interpretation, you are also sincerely welcome to provide us. Of course, you are welcome to correct some of the obviously wrong translations or interpretations, because there is always room for improvement. 

     We hope this is a common garden of Tai Chi for everyone interested in Tai Chi, and we hope that with the passage of time, our entries will continue to increase, and the translation or interpretation will become more and more precise, benefiting more and more Tai Chi fans. Lastly, we do hope that you will find this glossary a useful resource and make good use of it. Thank you all.

Sincerely yours,

Peter Tsai 

Bibliography, Links, Resources

The I Chien T’ai Chi Chuan  by Soong, Jyh Jian  

 

Chen Style Taijiquan Practical Method 81-Form Names

by WEBMASTER on 2008/02/27

https://practicalmethod.com/2008/02/chen-style-taijiquan-practical-method-81-form-names/

 吳榮輝副理事長 Vice Chairman Wu Ronghui http:// www.suppletaichi.com

1. 《鄭子門下三位大師之推手技藝》 How Three Masters Taught Pushing Hands    Glimpses of Cheng Man-Ching’s Push Hands System (2020出版)

2. Supple Tai Chi Chuan Analysis, 2019 《鬆柔太極拳闡微》(2019出版)

3. 30 Years of Push Hands, 2016 《太極拳推手生涯三十年》 (2016出版) 

4. Supple Tai Chi Chuan, 2014 《鬆柔太極拳 Supple Tai Chi Chuan 》(2014出版) 

5. 25 Years of Push Hands, 2010 《太極拳推手二十五年》 (2010出版) 

6. Tai Chi Chuan for the Blind《盲人太極拳》 (2012出版) 

Chen Style Taijiquan Notepad

https://cdweinmann.tripod.com/index.htm#jgdd%20pic

http://www.centerforinternalarts.com/CIA03_TaiChiChiGung.htm

https://www.cleartaichi.com/blog/jing-energy-503.html

Welcome to Wood Dragon Tai-Chi (Taijiquan)

http://www.wooddragon.org.uk/tai_chi_glossary.html

http://www.wooddragon.org.uk/tai_chi_glossary.html#P

Tai Chi daily

https://taichidaily.co/

Sifu JC

http://jccarter.info/taiji/glossary.html

The Magic Tortoise Taijiquan School

http://magictortoise.com/termscontent.htm

 

The Tai Chi Chuan Study Center

https://taichicenter.com/resources/beginners-glossary/

Rising Moon Tai Chi School

https://www.risingmoontaichi.net/terminology

太極論壇 Tai Ji Forum

https://taiji-forum.com/glossary/taijiquan/

 Zhaohua Publishing House

Chen Style Taijiquan Glossary 

Chinese Character Dictionary

Chinese Character Dictionary   Search by English, Pinyin, Cantonese, and Chinese Character.   A variety of print options. 

Chinese Internal Martial Arts Dictionary

Research by Michael P. Garofalo

Dictionary of Chinese Internal Martial Arts   By Mike Garofalo.  Emphasis upon the Neijiquan of Sun Lu Tang.   

David Brent Wolfe Dictionary of Martial Arts Terms 

Daoist Studies Glossary  

Falk, Andrea, M.S.   Dictionary of Chinese Martial Arts Terms: Wushu Dictionary.   HTML and PDF Versions.  Glossary

The Magic Tortoise Taijiquan School

Glossary of Chinese Terms, Names and Phrases   Magic Tortoise School of Taijiquan   Prepared by Almanzo "Lao Ma" Lamoureux

Glossary of Common Tai Chi and Kung Fu Terms   Prepared by Dragon Studios  

Glossary of Spirituality Related Terms - Wikipedia

Chinese Martial Arts Dictionaries,

Hsing I Chuan Glossary 

 

MDBG Chinese-English Dictionary  

Sun Lu Tang (1861-1933)

Sun Style Taijiquan: Bibliography, Links, Resources, Quotes, Notes

A Study of Taijiquan.   By Sun Lutang.  Translated by Tim Cartmell.  North Atlantic Books, 2003.  160 pages.  ISBN:  1556434626. 

Taichichuan.Co.UK Glossary

Tai Chi Glossary   Chinese Kung Fu Association  

Tai Chi Glossary By Ron Perfetti  

Traditional Yang Style Tai Chi Chuan 104 Movement Hand Form   List of postures. 

Village Laojia YiLu Posture Names, Chen Taijiquan

Wikipedia - Glossary of Spirituality Related Terms

Wolfe, David Brent. 

Wushu Dictionary:  Dictionary of Chinese Martial Arts Terms.   Prepared by Falk, Andrea, M.S.   HTML and PDF Versions. 

Xing Yi Quan Xue: The Study of Form-Mind Boxing.   By Sun Lu Tang.  Translated by Albert Liu.  Compiled and edited by Dan Miller.  Burbank, CA, Unique Publications, 2000.  312 pages.  ISBN: 0865681856. 

Yang, Jwing Ming, Ph.D.  Master Yang has published over 30 books.  Many of his books include invaluable glossaries.  YMAA.

Beginner's glossary of Chen style taijiquan movements

https://cdweinmann.tripod.com/glossary.htm

Martial Arts Dictionary

http://www.checkmateselfdefense.com/students/martial-arts-dictionary/

 

https://taijiquan-ottawa.com/taichi-theory/glossary/

Tai Chi Glossary

https://www.cleartaichi.com/blog/tai-chi-glossary-584.html.

https://psychonautic-xperisense.blogspot.com/p/taichi-and-qigong-glossary.html

https://relatedwords.io/taijiquan

Tai Chi Principles – Phoenix Tai Chi London

http://www.taichi-london.com/en/tai-chi-glossary/details/?proj=185

http://www.sammasich.com/pdf/neijia_terms_w_chinese.pdf

Tai Chi Principles – Phoenix Tai Chi London

http://www.taichi-london.com/en/tai-chi-glossary/details/?proj=185

https://breakthroughealing.org/glossary-of-tai-chi-vocabulary-and-terms/

https://chibotaichi.com/2017/12/17/a-tai-chi-glossary/

 

http://www.wutanalaska.com/library/glossary/index.html

http://www.wudangtaichi.co.uk/index_files/glossary.htm

https://practicalmethod.com/2010/03/glossary-2/glossary

by FULLTIME on 2010/03/21

1. Chen Zhonghua of Chen Style Taijiquan

2. Grind

“Pulling Energy (roll back)” Online Video Trailer

https://docplayer.net/20856826-Glossary-of-chinese-martial-internal-arts-terms-sam-masich.html

https://sites.evergreen.edu/taiji-su20/wp-content/uploads/sites/586/2020/08/Glossary-Compilation-Draft-8.11.2020.pdf

https://dictionary.hantrainerpro.com/chinese-english/translationfan_return.htm 2. 

https://dictionary.hantrainerpro.com/chinese-english/translationhui_return.htm 3. https://www.dictionary.li/chinese-strokes-list-en.htm Page 12 Hǔ ⻁ tiger Proportions:

http://real-kungfu.co.uk/index.php/photos/glossary/

 http://www.encyclo.co.uk/local/21434

https://ymaa.com/articles/fundamental-eight-stances-ji-ben-ba-shi

 Tai Chi Chuan Classical Yang Style—The Complete Long Form and Qigong by Dr. Yang, Jwing-Ming.)

http://qi-encyclopedia.com/?article=Qi-and-Chen-Taijiquan

http://www.symynet.com/tao_te_ching/taoism_glossary/words.htm

I-Ching the "Book of Changes," used in divination

https://edgruberman.wordpress.com/kung-fu-glossary/

Dictionary of Chinese Martial Arts Terms: Wushu Dictionary.   Prepared by Falk, Andrea, M.S.   HTML and PDF Versions. 

The Competition Routine of Sun Style Taijiquan.  Zhong Shan, Chief Editor.  Wu Don, Executive Editor.  Li Wei, Editor of English Version.  Published in Beijing, China, 2003.  151 pages.  ISBN: 7537720851.