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空空 (kōng kōng) — (colloquial) completely empty, bare, with nothing inside; (Buddhist philosophy) emptiness of emptiness; the unreality of all phenomena, including the concept of emptiness itself

Definition

空空 (kōngkōng) is the reduplicated bound form meaning 'completely empty' — used in literary or Buddhist contexts rather than everyday speech. In Buddhist philosophy it names a higher-order emptiness where even 'emptiness' itself is unreal.

bound form
(colloquial) completely emptybarewith nothing inside(Buddhist philosophy) emptiness of emptinessthe unreality of all phenomena, including the concept of emptiness itself

Examples

  • 空空，。
    Wū zi lǐ kōng kōng, shén me yě méi yǒu.
    Inside the room, it's completely empty — nothing at all.
  • ‘空空’，。
    Fó jiào jiǎng 'kōng kōng', shì gèng gāo céng cì de jué wù.
    Buddhism teaches the 'emptiness of emptiness', which is a higher level of enlightenment.
  • ，空空。
    Kǎo wán shì hòu, wǒ de dà nǎo kōng kōng yí piàn.
    After the exam, my mind was completely blank.

Origin

Reduplicated word
构词法gòucífǎ
重叠chóngdiéReduplication

A syllable said twice — for affection, for softness, or simply because that is how the word is said.

空kōngempty
空kōngempty

空 means empty; the repetition gives a sense of complete emptiness.

Characters in this word

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
穴穴xuécave, hole
Sound part声符shēngfú
工
工gōng空kōng
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

空 is built from 穴, a cave or hole, and 工, which gives the sound.

Open 空 →

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
穴穴xuécave, hole
Sound part声符shēngfú
工
工gōng空kōng
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

空 is built from 穴, a cave or hole, and 工, which gives the sound.

Open 空 →
Appears in
Abstract Concepts

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