Chinese symbol for “empty”
空
kōng
empty; air; sky; in vain
The closest CC-CEDICT match for empty is 空 (kōng), defined as: empty; air; sky; in vain.
Before using these characters for a tattoo, check them with a native speaker. Dictionary words often have several meanings, and the right choice depends on context.
Characters and stroke order
Other Chinese words for “empty”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 空空 | kōng kōng | empty; vacuous |
| 空荡荡 (空蕩蕩) | kōng dàng dàng | empty; deserted |
| 散场 (散場) | sàn chǎng | (of a theater) to empty; (of a show) to end |
| 干 (乾) | gān | dry; dried food |
| 寥 | liáo | empty; lonesome |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 空.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 空间 (空間) | kōng jiān | space; room; (fig.) scope; leeway |
| 航空 | háng kōng | aviation |
| 空气 (空氣) | kōng qì | air; atmosphere |
| 天空 | tiān kōng | sky |
| 空中 | kōng zhōng | in the sky; in the air |
| 太空 | tài kōng | outer space |
See also: Japanese symbol for “empty”.
Data: CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0); Unihan Database (Unicode License v3); Make Me a Hanzi (Arphic Public License (graphics.txt); LGPL-3.0-or-later (dictionary.txt)); wordfreq (CC BY-SA 4.0 (data)). Retrieved 2026-10-22.