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Word file #007RisingStories & games

What does wuxia mean?

武侠wǔxiá

Say itWOO-shyah/ˈwuː.ʃjɑː/noun (uncountable; often used before another noun)

Character by character
  1. 武wǔmartial, military
  2. 侠xiáknight-errant

A genre of fiction and film about martial-arts heroes who live by a code of honor, usually set in ancient China.

Written by the Second Language TeamWritten

Wuxia is a genre of fiction and film about warrior heroes, usually set in ancient China [1]. The heroes are martial artists who live by a code of honor. They protect the weak, take revenge, and learn secret fighting styles from old masters. English speakers meet the word in film reviews, on streaming sites that sort Chinese dramas by genre, in translated web novels, and in games. It usually comes before another noun: a wuxia novel, a wuxia film, a wuxia epic.

English speakers say WOO-shyah or “woo-SHAH” [1]. The Mandarin word is 武侠 wǔxiá (traditional 武俠, where only the second character changes). 武 wǔ means “military” or “martial,” and 侠 xiá means a knight-errant, a wandering hero who fights for justice [1]. Wǔ has a low, dipping tone and xiá has a rising one. The pinyin letter x sounds close to English “sh,” so the word does not sound like “box.” Wuxia is a neutral word, not slang. Critics, publishers, and fans all use it.

Word stats

Known in English
Fans of Chinese dramas, novels, and games know it well. Many other people have watched a wuxia film without ever learning the word.
Said in China today
武侠 is an everyday genre word in Chinese, though people usually add 小说 (novel) or 片 (film) after it.
Polite
A neutral genre label that offends nobody. The only danger is the sword fights.
Freshness
More people look it up every year as Chinese dramas, web novels, and games find English-speaking fans.

Spotted in the wild

Group chat · Friday, 9:40 pm
  1. Mayaok I need a new show
  2. Youtry a wuxia drama. swords, revenge, everyone can fly a little
  3. Mayafly a little??
  4. Youthey jump off a roof and just… keep going. you stop asking by episode 2

What it means here: Wuxia is the genre label here: a Chinese drama about martial-arts heroes with almost-magical moves.

Comments under a book post
  1. Priyafinished my first wuxia novel and now I want to quit my job and wander the jianghu
  2. Leowelcome. read jin yong next, he’s the big name
  3. Priyais the one with the 900-year-old immortals also wuxia?
  4. Leothat’s xianxia. wuxia heroes are just very good at kung fu. they still get old

What it means here: Wuxia means stories about human martial heroes; Leo separates it from xianxia, where heroes train to become immortals.

Family chat · Sunday, 11:05 am
  1. Dadfound grandpa’s old box of 武侠小说 in the garage
  2. Youthe paperbacks with the sword guys on the covers?
  3. Dadyes. he read one every night for 40 years
  4. Youkeep them for me. I want to read one in Chinese someday

What it means here: Dad writes 武侠小说 (wǔxiá xiǎoshuō, “wuxia novels”), the usual Chinese way to name the genre in books.

How to use it

  • a wuxia novel / film / drama / gameShe’s writing a wuxia novel about a swordswoman who protects a small village.
  • the wuxia genreThe wuxia genre is full of secret fighting manuals and long revenge plots.
  • wuxia-style / wuxia-inspiredThe game has wuxia-style fights on top of bamboo trees.
  • get into wuxia / a wuxia fanI got into wuxia through Chinese dramas, and now I read the novels too.

Don’t say it like this

  • Sounds offI watched a great wuxia last night.

    Say thisI watched a great wuxia film last night.

    Dictionaries list wuxia as uncountable: it names the genre, not one story. Add film, novel, or drama after it.

  • Sounds offWuxia is an ancient Chinese word.

    Say thisWuxia stories are old, but the word 武侠 is only about 120 years old.

    The heroes go back centuries, but the compound began as a copy of the Japanese term bukyō around 1902.

  • Sounds offThe hero trains for 500 years and becomes a god. Classic wuxia!

    Say thisThe hero trains for 500 years and becomes a god. Classic xianxia!

    Stories about becoming immortal are xianxia. Wuxia heroes have amazing skills, but they stay human.

  • Sounds off“WUX-ee-ah,” with the x from “box”

    Say this“WOO-shyah”

    In pinyin, the letter x stands for a sound close to English “sh.”

wuxia or not?

Is each of these wuxia? Pick an answer to find out.

  1. A novel about a wandering swordsman in ancient China who protects villagers and follows a strict code of honor.

  2. An action film about a police officer in modern Hong Kong who uses kung fu to catch criminals.

  3. A web novel where the hero meditates for centuries to become an immortal and fight gods.

  4. A game where you play a sword fighter in the jianghu, the world of martial artists, and leap across rooftops.

The wuxia family

  • jianghu 江湖 jiānghú“Rivers and lakes”: the world of martial artists, schools, and outlaws where wuxia stories happen.Wuxia is the genre; the jianghu is the neighborhood. Watch out for the neighbors.
  • xianxia 仙侠 xiānxiá“Immortal hero”: fantasy stories where heroes train to become immortals.Same 侠, bigger dreams. Wuxia heroes want justice; xianxia heroes also want to live forever.
  • kung fu 功夫 gōngfuChinese martial arts, or skill that takes years of practice.Every wuxia hero knows kung fu. Not every kung fu movie is wuxia.

Where it came from

  1. c. 1902Japanese author Shunrō Oshikawa uses the term bukyō in his adventure novels. Chinese authors take it up as 武侠 wǔxiá, a word-for-word copy of the Japanese term [2].
  2. 1963The Oxford English Dictionary’s earliest evidence for the word in English is from this year, in the writing of V. Chu. The OED gives its source as Chinese wǔxiá, also spelled wu-hsia [3].
  3. 2010The Oxford English Dictionary first publishes its entry for wuxia, a noun borrowed from Chinese. The entry was last updated in July 2023 [3].
  4. TodayWuxia is a standard genre label in film reviews, publishing, and fan communities for Chinese dramas, web novels, and games.

Wuxia vs. xianxia vs. kung fu

Fans use these labels all the time, and they overlap. Two questions help: who are the heroes, and how much magic is there?

LabelWho the heroes areHow much magicUsual setting
Wuxia 武侠 wǔxiáHuman martial heroes who follow a code of honorInner power and near-magical fighting skillsAncient China
Xianxia 仙侠 xiānxiáPeople who train to become immortalsFull fantasy: gods, demons, lives that last for centuriesA fantasy world built on Chinese myth
Kung fu filmAny fighter who is very good at martial artsUsually none; the fights are physicalAny time, including modern cities

Wuxia stories draw on older traditions of wandering swordsmen. Many heroes have an inner power that comes from Daoist magic and near-magical kung fu training [2]. So a wuxia hero may run up a wall or fight on top of a bamboo forest, but still grows old like everyone else.

The English and Chinese words are also used a little differently. In English, wuxia is only the name of a genre. In Chinese, 武侠 can also mean the martial hero himself. To name the genre, Chinese speakers usually add a second word: 武侠小说 wǔxiá xiǎoshuō for novels, or 武侠片 wǔxiá piàn for films.

The heroes are old, but the word is young. Chinese stories about xia heroes go back many centuries. The compound 武侠, though, started as a calque, a word-for-word copy, of the Japanese term bukyō, which Shunrō Oshikawa used in his adventure novels around 1902. Chinese authors then took it up [2]. After 1949, wuxia was suppressed in Mainland China until the 1980s and in Taiwan until the 1960s. In those years it grew strong in Hong Kong and among Chinese communities overseas [2].

Sources

  1. wuxia noun - Definition, pictures, pronunciation and usage notesOxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary
  2. SFE: WuxiaThe Encyclopedia of Science Fiction
  3. wuxia, n. meanings, etymology and moreOxford English Dictionary, first published September 2010; last modified July 2023

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Articles

Train like a wuxia hero, minus the rooftops

Second Language is a pixel-art RPG where you talk to characters, finish quests, and learn the Chinese behind words like 武侠. The intro course is free to play.

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