HSK 6 · Science

太空 tàikōng “outer space” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 太空 means

  1. outer space

How to say 太空

  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale太tài4th tone, falling
  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale空kōng1st tone, high and level

太空 in a sentence

  1. 太空旅行已不再是幻想。

    Tàikōng lǚxíng yǐ búzài shì huànxiǎng.

    Space travel is no longer a dream.

    Sentence #10326108 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 你怎么在太空里找到食物？

    Nǐ zěnme zài tàikōng lǐ zhǎodào shíwù?

    How do you find food in space?

    Sentence #334923 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 从太空中看，地球是什么模样呢？

    Cóng tàikōng zhōng kàn, dìqiú shì shénme múyàng ne?

    What does the earth look like from space?

    Sentence #2771090 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters · translation adapted

How 太空 is built

Each colour is one part of the character. Parts repeat across thousands of characters, so learning them makes new words easier. See all 214 in our radicals chart.

The character 太 (tài) with each of its parts in a different colour
太tàihighest
  • 大big · dà
  • 丶dot · zhǔ

Memory aidBig 大 with one more dot: even bigger, too much.

The character 空 (kōng) with each of its parts in a different colour
空kōngempty
  • 穴cave · xuéMeaning part
  • 工work · gōngSound part

穴 hints at the meaning (cave); 工 (gōng) hints at the sound. Compare it with kōng.

How to write 太空

太 4 strokes · 空 8 strokes

Watch the order, then press Try writing it and draw each stroke in the grid. Each stroke is checked as you go.

太空 (tàikōng) stroke order chart: each stroke of the characters in the order you write them
Stroke order chart for 太空 (tàikōng). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.

Words related to 太空

Words with 太

太tài · too太阳tàiyáng · the sun太太tàitai · wife太极拳tàijíquán · tai chi (taijiquan)

Words with 空

空调kōngtiáo · air conditioning空kōng · empty填空tiánkòng · to fill in the blanks (on a form or test)空气kōngqì · air空闲kòngxián · free time天空tiānkōng · sky空间kōngjiān · space空想kōngxiǎng · fantasy空洞kōngdòng · empty空虚kōngxū · empty

More words: Science & Technology

摄氏度shèshìdù · degrees Celsius设置shèzhì · to set up视频shìpín · video试验shìyàn · test探测tàncè · to detect弹性tánxìng · elasticity天文tiānwén · astronomy体积tǐjī · volume

FAQs

太空 (tàikōng) means “outer space”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it tàikōng: tài with a 4th tone, then kōng with a 1st tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 太空 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type taikong with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 太空 from the suggestions. Typing taikong into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
太空 is an HSK 6 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.

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Sources: meaning and pinyin checked by a native Mandarin teacher against the official HSK lists. Extra meanings from CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0). Example sentences from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.