"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". Taekwondo is a Korean style of martial art that dates back nearly 2000 years! It arrived in the United States in the mid-1960's and in recent times has become the most popular martial art in America. Taekwondo is a extremely developed system of fighting skills, which is a very scientific martial art as a Korean traditional one. However, the Taekwondo is not to be confined in the concept of fighting skills Taekwondo spirit includes the Do which advances both mind and life, and you can find this in the etiquette and mind training. And Taekwondo is a martial art that was developed as a world wide sport today. In this manner, Taekwondo can be defined as a scientific fighting skill inclusive of a good training method on mind and body, which is a world wide sport at the same time. Taekwondo has been developed almost all the way along with the flow of Korean history for a long time. And since the history of Korea was much influenced by another countries around with its influences over them the development of Taekwodo was in the interactions with another kinds of oriental martial arts. Thus, Taekwondo is similar to them and shares many important or trivial features with them. However, we can find some differences between Taekwondo and another kinds of oriental martial arts. ; First, Taekwondo is very dynamic using much of kicking with active motions.; Second, Taekwondo's principles of motion accord exactly with those of spiritual training and of life in the philosophical depth.; Third, this Taekwondo is different from anothers in the active poses and dynamic beautifulness. These reasons make Taekwondo beloved by many people in the world.