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空空如也

Mandarin · pinyin kōng kōng rú yě

as empty as anything (idiom); completely bereft
to have nothing
vacuous
hollow
empty (argument, head etc)

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Characters in this entry

空: kōng · empty, hollow, bare, deserted
如: rú · if, supposing; as if; like, as
也: yě · also; classical final particle of strong affirmation or identity

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

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Mandarin tones

1–1–2–3 · kong1 kong1 ru2 ye3

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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.

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

hung1 hung1 jyu4 jaa5

Cantonese word readings for 空空如也. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

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Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

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

phrase

(idiomatic) empty; vacuous; having nothing

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

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