空

kōng

empty

air; sky; in vain

cave (穴) + work sound (工) = empty, hollow, sky

穴 is a cave or hollow — an arch of empty space with an opening. 工 mainly lends the sound kōng; the cave radical carries the sense of hollow emptiness that extends to sky, air, and futility.

穴+工→空
工WorkPhonetic
穴CaveSemantic

瓶子是空的,里面什么都没有。

píng zi shì kōng de, lǐ miàn shén me dōu méi yǒu。

The bottle is empty; there is nothing inside.

他努力了很久,却空手而回。

tā nǔ lì le hěn jiǔ, què kōng shǒu ér huí。

He worked hard for a long time, yet returned empty-handed.

Words with 空

真空

zhēn kōng

(physics, fig.) vacuum

空气

kōng qì

air

空港

kōng gǎng

airport (abbr. for 航空港[hang2 kong1 gang3])

空间

kōng jiān

space; room

太空站

tài kōng zhàn

space station

美国航空公司

měi guó háng kōng gōng sī

American Airlines

两手空空

liǎng shǒu kōng kōng

empty-handed (idiom); fig. not receiving anything

北京航空航天大学

běi jīng háng kōng háng tiān dà xué

Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics

低空

dī kōng

low altitude

凭空

píng kōng

baseless (lie)

空袭

kōng xí

to make an air raid

空难

kōng nàn

air crash

More characters with 穴

屄穿窥帘穷窕