Chinese Character Wiki
空

kōng, kòng

empty

Phonosemantic compound. 穴 represents the meaning and 工 represents the sound.

Components
穴 meaning component

穴  Meaning component

xué

  

cave

工 sound component

工  Sound component

gōng

  

work

Evolution

空 Bronze script Late Warring States (~250 BC)

Bronze script

Late Warring States (~250 BC)
空 Seal script Shuowen (~100 AD)

Seal script

Shuowen (~100 AD)
空 Clerical script Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)

Clerical script

Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)
空 Regular script Modern

Regular script

Modern
Definitions

空  

kōng

empty, hollow, bare, deserted; empty; air; sky; in vain

空  

kòng

to empty; vacant; unoccupied; space; leisure; free time

Most common words with 空
Freq.
Word
Meaning

空间

space

空

empty

空气

air

航空

aviation

天空

sky

Component uses

Sound component in 6 characters (1 verified)

控 腔 崆 倥 箜 焢

Historical pronunciation

Old Chinese

Middle Chinese

Pinyin

Gloss

*kʰˤoŋ

khuwng

kōng

hollow, empty; hole

*kʰˤoŋʔ

khuwngX

kǒng

hollow, empty; hole


Statistics

HSK level 3

Appears in 73.9708% of movies

444th most common character in movies

272nd most common character in books

Miscellaneous

Strokes

8

Unicode

U+7A7A

Shuowen

“空，竅也。从穴，工聲。”


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