"Tae" means "foot" or "to strike with the feet".
"Kwon" means "hand", or "to strike with the hand".
"Do" means discipline, art, or way.
Hence TaeKwonDo (foot-hand-way) means literally "the art of the feet and the hands" or "the art of kicking and punching". Different schools and/or styles may impose different variations on the formal definition however. For example, some styles add the words "self defense" to the literal definition and/or throw in some form of the phrase "physical and mental training". |
