Sifu

Sifu (Cantonese) or shīfu (Mandarin) is the identical pronunciation of two Chinese terms for a master: 師傅 and 師父. The character 師 means "teacher", while the meaning of 傅 is "tutor" and the meaning of 父 is "father". Both characters are read fu with the same tones in Cantonese and Mandarin, creating some ambiguity. A similar term often used in Chinese is 老師 (Cantonese lou5 si1, Mandarin lǎoshī), meaning "teacher".