Skip to content
Chinese Copilot

空kōngempty

HSK 4word

By Chinese Copilot · Last updated

空 (kōng) means "empty," and also "air," "sky," or "in vain." In everyday speech it mostly describes a container or place with nothing inside, as in 空瓶子 (an empty bottle) and 房间是空的 (the room is empty). Read kòng, the same character means free time, which is a separate entry.

What does 空 mean?

  1. 1.

    emptyadjective

What does the character 空 mean?

  • 空empty

How do you use 空?

空 often appears in 是空的 (is empty) or right before a noun, as in 空杯子.

Patterns

  • 是空的

    这个箱子是空的。

    Zhège xiāngzi shì kōng de.

    This box is empty.

What are some examples of 空 in a sentence?

  1. HSK 3

    冰箱是空的。

    Bīngxiāng shì kōng de.

    The fridge is empty.

  2. 杯子空了，再来一杯吧。

    Bēizi kōng le, zài lái yì bēi ba.

    The cup is empty; have another.

  3. HSK 2

    这个房间空着。

    Zhège fángjiān kōngzhe.

    This room is empty.

How is 空 used in a conversation?

  1. Speaker A:

    家里还有牛奶吗？

    Jiā lǐ hái yǒu niúnǎi ma?

    Is there any milk left at home?

  2. Speaker B:

    没有了，瓶子是空的。

    Méiyǒu le, píngzi shì kōng de.

    No, the bottle is empty.

  3. Speaker A:

    那我去超市买。

    Nà wǒ qù chāoshì mǎi.

    Then I'll go buy some at the supermarket.

  4. Speaker B:

    也买些面包吧。

    Yě mǎi xiē miànbāo ba.

    Get some bread too.

What should you learn next?

Related words

Browse every entry in the Chinese word dictionary.

English glosses on this page are adapted from CC-CEDICT, published by MDBG (snapshot 2026-10-23), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Glosses were edited for learners.