Martial Art Definition

martial-arts

noun

Any of various systems of self-defense originating in E Asia, such as karate or kung fu, also engaged in as a sport.

Webster's New World

Military skills, proficiency in military strategy, prowess in warfare.

1832 ...of all the modes by which the advantage of his country may be secured, the martial arts and valour are those by which a Swiss the most hopes to promote it. (Richard Chenevix, An Essay Upon National Character: 4. On patriotism, p. 481).

Wiktionary

Other Word Forms of Martial Art

Noun

Singular:

martial art

Plural:

martial-arts

Origin of Martial Art

Collocation of martial + art, coined in 1933 as a loan translation of Japanese bujutsu. But already in Pope's Iliad (1715, 4.360), and in Sotheby's Iliad (1831, book 6).

From Wiktionary