空 – empty, sky, void

8 strokesTaught in grade 1#304 in newspaper frequencyN5 vocabulary

The kanji 空 means empty, sky, void, vacant, vacuum. Its on’yomi (Chinese-derived reading) is クウ (kuu); its kun’yomi (native Japanese reading) is そら、あ.く、あ.き、あ.ける、から、す.く、す.かす、むな.しい (sora, aku, aki, akeru, kara, suku, sukasu, munashii). It is written with 8 strokes, under radical 穴 (no. 116).

Stroke order

Stroke order from KanjiVG. Practise others with the stroke order lookup.

Readings

Type	Reading	Romaji
On’yomi	クウ	kuu
Kun’yomi	そら	sora
Kun’yomi	あ.く	aku
Kun’yomi	あ.き	aki
Kun’yomi	あ.ける	akeru
Kun’yomi	から	kara
Kun’yomi	す.く	suku
Kun’yomi	す.かす	sukasu
Kun’yomi	むな.しい	munashii

A dot separates the kanji’s part from the okurigana (kana written after it), e.g. まな.ぶ → 学ぶ.

Radical and components

Radical: 穴 (Kangxi radical 116). Components: 穴・工・儿・宀.

Words using 空

空そらsky空気くうきair空港くうこうairport空くあくto open (e.g. doors)空くすくto become less crowded空からemptiness空きあきspace航空こうくうaviation架空かくうfictitious空想くうそうdaydream空中くうちゅう(in) the air真空しんくうvacuum空っぽからっぽempty空くうempty air大空おおぞらwide open sky空間くうかんspace空腹くうふくempty stomach上空じょうくうsky空しいむなしいempty空ろうつろcavity

Example sentences

ワシが空を飛んでいる。

An eagle is flying in the sky.

Tatoeba #191980

空気は音の媒体だ。

The air is a medium for sound.

Tatoeba #179378

どの空港から出発しますか。

Which airport do I leave from?

Tatoeba #200324

Kanji with the same radical

究突窓穴窮窒

Sources: KANJIDIC2 (EDRDG, CC BY-SA 4.0), KanjiVG (CC BY-SA 3.0), Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). About the data.