gung-ho

American  

[guhng-hoh] / ˈgʌŋˈhoʊ /

adjective

1. wholeheartedly enthusiastic and loyal; eager; zealous.

   a gung-ho military outfit.

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adverb

1. in a successful manner.

   The business is going gung-ho.

gung ho British  

/ ɡʌŋ həʊ /

adjective

1. extremely enthusiastic and enterprising, sometimes to excess

2. extremely keen to participate in military combat

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gung-ho Cultural  

1. Extremely enthusiastic or zealous: “He was gung-ho about going on a vacation to the beach.”

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gung ho Idioms  

1. Also, gung-ho. Extremely enthusiastic or dedicated, as in She was gung ho about her new job. This expression was introduced in 1942 as a training slogan for a U.S. Marine battalion, derived from what an American officer thought were Mandarin Chinese words for “work together.” It was actually an abbreviation for the name of Chinese industrial cooperatives.

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Etymology

Origin of gung-ho

Introduced as a training slogan in 1942 by U.S. Marine officer Evans F. Carlson (1896–1947), from Chinese gōng hé, the abbreviated name of the Chinese Industrial Cooperative Society, taken by a literal translation as “work together”

Example Sentences

This is one of the reasons U.S. corn farmers were so gung-ho on ethanol when it was introduced in the 2000s: It was a new use case for their product in a saturated commodity market.

From Barron's

Not all of the younger generation of Robleses is as gung-ho about the family business as their parents are.

From Los Angeles Times

But the opener's gung-ho approach cost him against the pace of Archer who fired down a bouncer and induced a top edge to wicketkeeper Jamie Smith.

From Barron's

Nancy had precious little time on the training ground with his players, but he still made gung-ho changes against Hearts when a steadier approach might have been wise.

From BBC

Her leaked comments, praising him and condemning her own army commanders for being too gung-ho, were catastrophic for her and her father.

From BBC