kickboxing
/ˈkɪk.bɒk.sɪŋ/noun, verb
kickboxing is a noun meaning “A hybrid martial art derived from Muay Thai, karate, and especially boxing during the 1960s to 1970s; more generally, any stand-up combat sport that…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is spelled K-I-C-K-B-O-X-I-N-G, and it appears about once in every 1 million words in written English (wordfreq, 2021 data).
What does kickboxing mean?
noun
- 1
A hybrid martial art derived from Muay Thai, karate, and especially boxing during the 1960s to 1970s; more generally, any stand-up combat sport that combines kicks and punches.
verb
- 1
present participle and gerund of kickbox
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you pronounce kickboxing?
- /ˈkɪk.bɒk.sɪŋ/
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-kickboxing.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of kickboxing
- kick-boxing
- kick boxing
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How common is kickboxing?
Kickboxing appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 33,636th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Words people confuse with kickboxing
Also written: kick-boxing (one word or two).
Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
Kickboxing in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense sport:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | kick-boxing |
| German | Kickboxing, Kickboxen |
| Portuguese | kickboxing, kickboxe |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does kickboxing come from?
Borrowed from Japanese キックボクシング (kikkubokushingu), from English kick + boxing. Possibly coined by Japanese businessman Osamu Noguchi in 1964.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).