Abstract: Concept is the thought product of people's understanding of an object and also the summary of the general and essential attribute of the object. After the Opium War of 1840, the concept of "physical education" came into being in China, which brought people's comprehension to physical movement into a whole new dimension. By means of literature review and etymology, it goes back to the historical context since the second half of the 19th century to explore the formation process of the word "physical education" and trace its meaning evolution. It is revealed that the original semantic meaning of "physical education", a new concept introduced to modern China at the time of crisis, was "the education of the physical", defined as a pedagogical term. With the diversified development of modern sports in Chinese, "physical education" has gradually seen changes in the meaning of expansion, implying a general term of all human physical activities, forming a conceptual system of modern Chinese sports together with subordinate concepts such as gymnastics, athletics, sports, games, and sportsmanship. Although the difference between the original meaning and the generalized meaning has caused the crisis of consistency in the use of concepts from time to time, the rational thinking and value judgment of Chinese people on physical activities are conveyed by the words of these historical documents.