I’m sure I’m not the first to notice this, but I’ve noticed that more and more I keep coming across the word fu. As in kung fu, or what is certainly one of the best names for a blog in the whole of the blogosphere, Geek Fu, or as one of my students put it recently, “Google Fu”.

The OED has no entry for fu, though fou has two meanings: as a noun, a bushel, and amusingly, as an adjective, drunk. Both usages are obsolete.

The Urban Dictionary entry for fu is fairly predictable: short for f*** you, and variations on that theme. And thrown in for good measure, as a misspelling of phở.

I submit that fu should be added to the OED, like -stan. As in New Yorkistan. Definition of fu: indicating proficiency in the area indicated, or possession of the characteristic specified by the previous word.

Anyone can contribute words to the OED. Indeed, as anyone who’s read The Professor and the Madman knows, the OED wouldn’t have happened otherwise. (It was the original Wikipedia, let’s not forget that!) Of course, I don’t think you get credit for contributing a word, only for being the first to actually use a word.