Kanji Kaisen

漢字Kanji · in Nature & Elements

空: empty, sky

Also: void, vacant, vacuum

JLPT N48 strokesGrade 1Your ink: 白 Not met

穴 carries the meaning · 工 gives the sound

8 strokes

Seven readings, and the words that use each

クウkuu · on'yomi · in compounds

  • 空間くうかんspace
  • 空港くうこうairport
  • 空気くうきair
  • 空車くうしゃfree taxi
  • 航空会社こうくうがいしゃairline company

そらsora · kun'yomi · on its own

  • 空そらsky

あくaku · kun'yomi

  • 空くあくopen [v.i.]

あきaki · kun'yomi

  • 空き缶あきかんempty can

あけるakeru · kun'yomi

  • 空けるあけるempty [v.t.]

からkara · kun'yomi

  • 空からempty [n.]
  • 空手からてkarate

むなしいmunashii · kun'yomi

  • 空しいむなしいfeel empty [adj.]

Also read すく, すかす, with no example words in our sources. Words: Kanji alive, CC BY 4.0.

Learn it 4 steps
Print sheet Present
成り立ち

Where it comes from

Origin · sourced

Phono-semantic compound (形聲)穴 cave, hole (meaning) + 工 (sound)

Source: Wiktionary, 空 (rev. 92725195), CC BY-SA 4.0

Memory story · made up to help you remember

“Hole + work (工) = a vast, 'worked' hole that goes on forever—the empty sky.”
From the 穴 hole story
繋がり
Ink shades, lightest to darkest: 白 Not met, 淡 Met, 中 Learning, 濃 Familiar, 印 Mastered
穴

Also built on hole (穴)

All 8
工

Also built on work (工)

All 12

The 工 family reads コウ (kou); 空 is read クウ.

空 gives its sound to

Sound parts: KanjiVG.

Also read クウ

2 kanji share this on'yomi

Easy to confuse

The difference, side by side
空 empty · 工
vs突 stab · 大
空 has 工 where 突 has 大.
In ChineseSame character in simplified and traditional · kōng

Same form: 空 is written the same way in mainland China (simplified) and in Taiwan and Hong Kong (traditional).

Simplified
空 mainland China, Singapore
Traditional
空 Taiwan, Hong Kong

Pinyin kōng most common reading

Forms and pinyin: Unicode Unihan database (Unicode License v3). Pinyin lists the most common reading, not every reading.

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