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Kanji Detail for 空 - "sky, empty, to empty"

空

  • Meaning

    空 means "sky, empty, to empty."

    1. Sky - The vast heavens; the atmosphere; feeling of emptiness.

    2. Empty - Hollow; vacant; lacking; void; futile.

    3. To empty - To make vacant; to hollow out.

    4. Vast - Wide; expansive; great.

    5. Hollow - Empty inside; without substance; unoccupied.

    6. In vain - Uselessly; to no purpose; wastefully.

    7. Hole - An opening; a penetrating gap.

    8. Gap - An interval; space between.

  • Words using 空

    • 空港 くうこう Listen airport
    • 航空 こうくう Listen aviation; flying
    • 空気 くうき Listen air; atmosphere; mood
    • 航空機 こうくうき Listen aircraft
    • 空爆 くうばく Listen aerial bombing
    • 空間 くうかん Listen space; room; airspace
    • 空軍 くうぐん Listen air force
    • 上空 じょうくう Listen sky; the skies; high-altitude sky

  • Four-character idioms with 空

    • 一切皆空 いっさいかいくう Listen matter is void; all is vanity
    • 史上空前 しじょうくうぜん Listen unprecedented in history; unheard-of; epoch-making
    • 天空海濶 てんくうかいかつ Listen the open sky and the serene sea; as open as the sky and serene as the sea; magnanimous
    • 天馬行空 てんばこうくう Listen unconstrained creativity; bold and imaginative
    • 徒手空拳 としゅくうけん Listen being empty-handed; being penniless; having no capital (for starting a business)
    • 空中楼閣 くうちゅうろうかく Listen castle in the air

  • Origin of 空

    The cave radical 穴, a hollow, over 工, which lends the reading kū. A hollow opening became "empty", and the great emptiness overhead became the sky.

    How to remember it: A hollow cave 穴 opened upward — emptiness itself, and the biggest empty thing there is: the sky.

    Sources: en.wiktionary.org · mojinavi.com

  • Tattoo check: 空

    • Verified meaning: sky, empty, to empty
    • Official Jōyō kanji — a standard character every Japanese reader recognises
    • Used in real Japanese given names (read あおい, あき, うるえ, かすみ)

    A single kanji rarely maps one-to-one onto an English word. Read the meanings and associations above as a set — a character that fits the dictionary definition can still carry a connotation you did not intend.

  • Name readings of 空

    Given names 空(あおい)Listen 空(あき)Listen 空(うるえ)Listen 空(かすみ)Listen 空(かなた)Listen 空(くう)Listen 空(しえる)Listen 空(すかい)Listen 空(そら)Listen 空(のあ)Listen

    Surnames 空(くうかい)Listen 空(そらさき)Listen

  • Compare with other kanji that mean the same thing:

  • Dictionary Citations

    The meaning above is based on the following sources:

    KANJIDIC2 A comprehensive Japanese-English kanji dictionary

    empty; sky; void; vacant; vacuum

    Unihan Unicode Han Database for CJK characters

    empty, hollow, bare, deserted

    CC-CEDICT A Chinese-English dictionary

    empty; air; sky; in vain

    Make Me a Hanzi Open-source Chinese character data

    hollow, empty, deserted, bare

    XSZD Xuéshēng Zìdiǎn (學生字典) - Student's Dictionary

    Empty. Such as saying empty with nothing. | Sky. Such as high sky, outer space. | Buddhism considers what transcends form and consciousness as true reality. Hence it is also called 空門 (gate of emptiness). | Not verified. Such as words that cannot be practiced are called 空論 (empty talk). Matters without substance are called 空文 (empty formality). | To penetrate. Such as opening up roads is called 鑿空. Seen in (Commentary to Book of Han). | Poverty. 屢空 (frequently impoverished). Seen in (Analerta). Referring to Yan Zi's contentment in poverty while delighting in the Way. | Originally written as 阱. A pit trap. Used for catching beasts. Meaning digging a deep pit in the ground to trap animals.

  • Onyomi

    tip

    kuu(クウ) クウ

  • Kunyomi

    tip

    a.keru(あ-ける) あ-ける

    a.ku(あ-く) あ-く

    aki(あき) あき

    kara(から) から

    muna.shii(むな-しい) むな-しい

    sora(そら) そら

    su.ku(す-く) す-く

    sukasu(す-かす) す-かす

  • Strokes

    tip

    8 strokes

  • Radical

    tip

    穴 (ana・anakammuri)

  • Related Keywords

    sky empty to empty emptiness gap hole hollow in vain loneliness vast void waste above aerial air atmosphere bare blank boundlessness celestial ethereal expansive firmament heaven horizon infinity nothingness openness purity serenity spacious tranquility unfilled wide

Sentences including 空

  • The air became warm.

  • I'm at narita airport right now.

  • She looked up at the sky.

  • I met a famous scholar at the airport yesterday.

  • There were a lot of stars seen in the sky.

  • Are you free this evening?

  • To live without air is impossible.

  • Please tell me how to get to the airport.

  • He looked up at the night sky.

  • I have been to the airport to see my father off.

Sentences from Japanese classical masterpieces

More kanji with the radical 穴 (ana・anakammuri)

See all kanji with this radical →

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