Meaning
air; sky; empty; in vain; emptied; leisure
Chinese: 天空、空气；也表示空白、没有。
Hear the Four Tones
The same syllable “kong” becomes a different word in each tone. 空 is the 1st tone. Tap any tone to hear a native voice and see its pitch shape.
Stroke Order
Tap Animate to watch the strokes in order, or Practice to trace it yourself.
Common Words
- 空气kōng qìair; atmosphere
- 有空儿yǒu kòng rerhua form of 有空
- 天空tiān kōngsky
- 空调kōng tiáoair conditioning; air conditioner (including units that have a heating mode)
- 空儿kòng rspare time; free time
Example Sentence
今天的天空特别蓝。Jīn tiān de tiān kōng tè bié lán.The sky is especially blue today.
今天Jīn tiāntoday的deof天空tiān kōngsky特别tè biéunusual蓝lánblue。
Go deeper
Where this character comes from
The cave radical 穴 plus 工 (sound): a hollow opening — read kōng ‘empty, hollow; sky, air; in vain’ (天空, 空气); read kòng ‘free time; vacant; to leave blank, to empty’ (空闲, 有空).
A way to remember it
kōng = empty / sky (天空); kòng = free time / to leave blank (有空).