HSK 6 · Adjectives

空洞 kōngdòng “empty” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 空洞 means

  1. empty
  2. hollow
  3. without substance
  4. cavity
  5. vacuous

How to say 空洞

  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale空kōng1st tone, high and level
  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale洞dòng4th tone, falling

空洞 in a sentence

  1. 他的讲话内容很空洞。

    Tā de jiǎnghuà nèiróng hěn kōngdòng.

    His speech had little substance.

    Sentence by WillyChina

  2. 这篇作文写得太空洞了。

    Zhè piān zuòwén xiě de tài kōngdòng le.

    This essay is far too empty.

    Sentence by WillyChina

How 空洞 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 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.

The character 洞 (dòng) with each of its parts in a different colour
洞dòngcave
  • 氵water form of 水 · shuǐMeaning part
  • 同same · tóngSound part

氵 hints at the meaning (water); 同 (tóng) hints at the sound. Compare it with dòng.

How to write 空洞

空 8 strokes · 洞 9 strokes

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

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

Words related to 空洞

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空虚kōngxū · empty太空tàikōng · outer space

Words with 洞

洞dòng · cave

More words: Adjectives

刻不容缓kèbùrónghuǎn · extremely urgent可观kěguān · considerable恳切kěnqiè · earnest可行kěxíng · feasible空前绝后kōngqiánjuéhòu · unprecedented and unrepeatable宽敞kuānchang · spacious宽容kuānróng · tolerant枯燥kūzào · dull

FAQs

空洞 (kōngdòng) means “empty” or “hollow”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it kōngdòng: kōng with a 1st tone, then dòng with a 4th tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 空洞 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type kongdong with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 空洞 from the suggestions. Typing kongdong into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
空洞 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 written by WillyChina. Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.