Most people may have heard that Feng Shui consists of two Chinese characters, "Wind" and "Water". What does it mean then?
In Chinese "Feng1" means wind; "Shui3" means water.
The proper name for Feng Shui should be "Kan Yu". There are different ways in interpreting Kan Yu.
"Kan is heaven's dao4; yu is earth's dao4."
According to a master's interpretation: "Kan" means `the way of Heaven' or simply `time factor' and "Yu" means `the way of Earth' or `geographical concern'. Kan Yu is the study of a site with reference to the time factor.
Then I hear you ask, why is it called "Feng Shui" and not "Kan Yu"?
This is probably because: to most people they understand the term "Feng Shui" better and may be as a result of the following verses:
"Qi4 (or Ch'I) rides the FENG (wind) and scatters, but is retained when encountering SHUI (water)." - (The Book of Burial); or the simplified version: "Qi4 is dispersed by wind and retained by water"
"Feng Shui is then the study of how to prevent Qi from being dispersed by Wind and how to use Water to retain it for our good use." - Master Joseph Yu in his 'Feng Shui Made Really Easy' Part I: What is Feng Shui?
New Comers in Feng Shui are advised to read up all the 13 parts 'Feng Shui Made Really Easy' series featured on this link:
http://www.oocities.org/zhen_qi/01articles.html