DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

撲空

简扑空 · 繁撲空

Mandarin · pinyin pū kōng

lit. to rush at thin air
fig. to miss one's aim
to have nothing to show for one's troubles

Full entryShow on map

Characters in this entry

撲: Look up this written character
空: kōng · empty, hollow, bare, deserted
扑: pū · pound, beat, strike; attack

Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

Explore the spelling

Mandarin tones

1–1 · pu1 kong1

Compare attested words with these syllables ↗

Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.

Connected dictionary

2character links

Explore word families ↗Compare pronunciations ↗Open character structure ↗

Counts describe dictionary records, not word frequency or semantic similarity. Source identities stay separate.

Read this spelling in Classical texts

Follow a written form into the eight pinned witnesses: Analects, Mencius, Laozi, Zhuangzi, Xunzi, Han Feizi, Sunzi and the Mao Shijing. A match is a place to investigate; it does not prove that a modern dictionary sense fits the passage.

撲空 · find source passages ↗ · 扑空 · find source passages ↗

Explore Classical grammar ↗

Compare dictionary sources Rime · Wiktionary

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

pok3 hung1

Cantonese word readings for 撲空. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

CanCLID contributors · CC BY 4.0 · source & license · Data pack

Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

verb

to fail to get or achieve what one intended; to come away empty-handed; to fail to meet someone one intended to meet

Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history

Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source & license · Data pack