EMPTY 空虛虛
LACK ALL POSSIBLE THINGS INSIDE.
Old Chinese Criteria
2. Kōng 空 (ant. mǎn 滿 "filled up") generally refers to literal emptiness of a container, but used adjectivally the word also has abstract uses as in kōng yán 空言 "empty words, abstract insubstantial discourse".
3. Wú 無 (ant. yǒu 有 "existence") refers to the philosophical abstract construct of "nothingness, emptiness".
4. Kuò 廓 and kuàng 曠 emphasise the expansiveness of the empty space.
Modern Chinese Criteria
空虛
虛空
空疏
虛無
懸空
架空
空幻
虛幻
虛飄飄
虛無縹緲
不著邊際
華而不實
紙上談兵
空洞無物
言之無物
空空如也
rough draft to BEGIN TO identify synonym group members for analysis, based on CL etc. 18.11.2003. CH /
- Novyj objasnitel'nyj Slovar' Sinonimov Russkogo Jazyka
(
APRESJAN 2004)
p.
787;899 - A Dictionary of Selected Synonyms in the Principal Indo-European Languages
(
BUCK 1988)
p.
13.22 - Lateinische Synonyme und Etymologien
(
DOEDERLEIN 1840)
p.
EMPTY
inanis refers to what is empty but has been full of content.
vacuus refers to emptiness of that which may be filled but is at prsent vacant.
- 韓非子同義詞研究
(
HANFEI TONGYI 2004)
p.
351 - “荀子”單音節形容詞同義關係研究
(
HUANG XIAODONG 2003)
p.
220 - Lateinische Synonymik
(
MENGE)
p.
313 - Historisches Woerterbuch der Philosophie
(
RITTER 1971-2007)
p.
5.157 - Chinese Synonyms Usage Dictionary
(
TENG SHOU-HSIN 1996)
p.
272 - 古漢語常用詞同義詞詞典
(
HONG CHENGYU 2009)
p.
273
Words
虛 xū OC: qhla MC: hi̯ɤ 50 Attributions
The most geneal word is xū 虛 (ant. shí 實 "substantial and full") which can refer both to physical emptiness of a space and to abstract emptiness or tenuousness as a philosophical concept.
- Word relations
- Ant: 實/FULL
Shí 實 can refer to something being full of solid substance, and thus by extension not tenuous or unimportant. - Ant: 盈/FULL
The ancient standard word for fullness of any kind is yíng 盈. - Epithet: 辭/PROSE
- Epithet: 一/ONE
The general word for one is yī 一. - Assoc: 浮/FRIVOLOUS
Fú 浮 sometimes refers to the kind of flippancy or frivolousness that might call for criticism but is not viewed as entirely serious. - Assoc: 空/EMPTY
Kōng 空 (ant. mǎn 滿 "filled up") generally refers to literal emptiness of a container, but used adjectivally the word also has abstract uses as in kōng yán 空言 "empty words, abstract insubstantial discourse". - Assoc: 華/EXTRAVAGANT
Huá 華 is purely demonstrative conspicuous and aesthetically elaborate consumption. huā??? - Assoc: 假/MISTAKE
- Assoc: 靜/INACTIVE
The standard general word for remaining inactive is jìng 靜 (ant. dòng 動 "take an initiative") - Synon: 空/EMPTY
Kōng 空 (ant. mǎn 滿 "filled up") generally refers to literal emptiness of a container, but used adjectivally the word also has abstract uses as in kōng yán 空言 "empty words, abstract insubstantial discourse".
- Syntactic words
- nabemptiness, empty space; depletion; voidness;
- nabactthe cultivation of emptiness
- nabmethod(abstract) emptiness (of mind)
- nabpoeticderived: meaninglessnessCH
- vadNfigurativeinsubstantial, inconsequential; rarified; vacant; also generally: empty; characterised by emptiness 虛月 "months where they are empty"
- vadVfigurativeinconsequentially; groundlessly, without a basis in facts; without sound reason; pointlessly; in vain
- vibe literally empty (like storehouses etc)
- viactbe vacant; be open-minded; cultivate emptiness; be empty and receptive
- viderivedhave empty handsLZ
- viinchoativeget empty, be emptied outCH
- vtoNcausativecause to be empty; allow to be empty
- vtoNcausativecause (oneself) to be empty
- vtoNcausativemake (oneself) empty, make oneself open-minded, become open-minded 虛己
- vtoNfigurativecause (the mind etc) to be without special ambitions and preoccupations 虛心
空 kōng OC: khooŋ MC: khuŋ 44 Attributions
Kōng 空 (ant. mǎn 滿 "filled up") generally refers to literal emptiness of a container, but used adjectivally the word also has abstract uses as in kōng yán 空言 "empty words, abstract insubstantial discourse".
- Word relations
- Ant: 滿/FULL
Mǎn 滿 became current in late Warring States times only, and the word is semantically hard to distinguish from yíng 盈. - Ant: 實/FULL
Shí 實 can refer to something being full of solid substance, and thus by extension not tenuous or unimportant. - Assoc: 虛/EMPTY
The most geneal word is xū 虛 (ant. shí 實 "substantial and full") which can refer both to physical emptiness of a space and to abstract emptiness or tenuousness as a philosophical concept. - Synon: 虛/EMPTY
The most geneal word is xū 虛 (ant. shí 實 "substantial and full") which can refer both to physical emptiness of a space and to abstract emptiness or tenuousness as a philosophical concept. - Oppos: 色/THING
- 佛光大辭典 Fóguāng dàcídiǎn The Foguang Dictionary of Buddhism
(
FOGUANG)
p.
3467 - 望月佛教大辭典 Mochizuki Bukkyō Daijiten The Mochizuki Encyclopedic Dictionary of Buddhism
(
MOCHIZUKI)
p.
2356b - 望月佛教大辭典 Mochizuki Bukkyō Daijiten The Mochizuki Encyclopedic Dictionary of Buddhism
(
MOCHIZUKI)
p.
636a - Digital Dictionary of Buddhism
(
MULLER)
p.
"Non-existence, voidness sSuunyataa); The opposite of yo3u 有-the negation of existence. As the rejection by the Buddha of this emptiness being simply the mistaken view of nothingness xu1wu2 虛無, this basic Buddhist teaching of emptiness is the negation of the two mistaken views of the acceptance of the real existence of a self wo3 我, and the understanding of an eternal nature of the compositional elements (fa3 法) that make up the world or the self. Therefore, it is an emptiness of self and dharmas. Among Hinayanists the Satyasiddhi sect (Che2ngshi2 zo1ng 成實宗) and in Mahaayaana teachings the Maadhyamika (Zh1onggua1n pa4i) 中觀派 and others strongly emphasized this teaching. Among the sutras, the PrajNNaapaaramitaa sutras all especially emphasize this teaching. Among the various understandings of emptiness are analytical emptiness and essential emptiness, as well as only emptiness and not-only-emptiness and so forth. As the teaching of emptiness is originally for the destruction of the attachment to false view, there is also the meaning of becoming empty-to break attachment. [cmuller]"
- 佛教語大辭典 Bukkyōgo daijiten Encyclopedic Dictionary of Buddhist Terms
(
NAKAMURA)
p.
278d - 佛教大辭典 Bukkyō daijiten Encyclopedic Dictionary of Buddhism
(
ODA)
p.
277-2 - A Dictionary of Chinese Buddhist Terms
(
SOOTHILL)
p.
" sSuunya, empty, void, hollow, vacant, nonexistent. sSuunyataa, 舜若多, vacuity, voidness, emptiness, non-existence, immateriality, perhaps spirituality, unreality, the false or illusory nature of all existence, the seeming jia3 假 being unreal. The doctrine that all phenomena and the ego have no reality, but are composed of a certain number of skandhas or elements, which disintegrate. The void, the sky, space. The universal, the absolute, complete abstraction without relativity. There are classifications into 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 11, 13, 16, and 18 categories. The doctrine is that all things are compounds, or unstable organisms, possessing no self-essence, i.e. are dependent, or caused, come into existence only to perish. The underlying reality, the principle of eternal relativity, or non-infinity, i.e. sSuunya, permeates all phenomena making possible their evolution. From this doctrine the Yogaacaarya school developed the idea of the permanent reality, which is Essence of Mind, the unknowable noumenon behind all phenomena, the entity void of ideas and phenomena, neither matter nor mind, but the root of both."
- An Introduction to Buddhism
(
TAKASAKI 1987)
p.
102-103 "Thus 'dharma-nature' [dharmataa 法性] represents the principle of dependent co-arising. But in the context of Buddhist doctrinal theory, 'impermanence' (anityataa) and 'selflessness' (nairaatmya < niraataman=anaatan) are also equally 'Dharma-nature'. And in Mahaayaana Buddhism this same priniciple of dependant co-arising or the condition of no-self was renamed 'emptiness' (sSuunyataa, ko1ngxi4ng 空性). 'Emptiness' is expressed by the proposition that 'all is empty' (sarvaMm sSuunyam, yi1qie4jie1ko1ng 一切皆空) and is held to signify the absence of any own-nature in all constituent elements. 'Own-nature' (svabhaava, zi4xi4ng 自性) here means any autonomous entity which preserves a uniform quality and is independent of other, and corresponds to the aatman postulated by non-Buddhists. Therefore no-self in equivalent to the absence of own-nature, and both describe the state of dependent co-arising."
- An Introduction to Buddhism
(
TAKASAKI 1987)
p.
195-196 In the prajNNaa-paaramitaa literature, emptiness is one of the 'gates of liberation':
"The fifth perfection, 'meditation' (dhyaana, cha2ndi4ng 禪定), is also strongly coloured by the characeristics of Mahaayaana Buddhism, and its fundament is the 'three gates of liberation' (triiNni vimokSsa-mukhaani, sa1n jie3tuo2 me2n), consisting of 'emptiness' (sSuunyataa, ko1ng 空), 'signlessness' (aanimitta, wu2xia1ng 無相), and 'purposelessness' (apraNnihita, wu2yua4n 無願). These are three forms of meditation in which all phenomena are observed to be empty, without any distinguishing characteristics, and not to be made the objects of desire, and these three meditations are regarded as the gates of liberations."
- 禪學大辭典 Zengaku Daijiten An Encyclopedic Dictionary of Zen Buddhism
(
ZENGAKU)
p.
240c
- Syntactic words
- nempty space
- nabmetaphysicalemptiness 養空 "cultivate emptiness"BUDDH: emptiness, voidness (the notion of emptiness developed into one of the key terms of Mahāyāna Buddhism; for explanations in secondary literature see 'sources'); SANSKRIT śūnyatā
- vad.VadN空大谷
- vadNempty; empty of relevant content (an empty pond, for example, may be just empty of fish etc)
- vadNbuddhistinsubstantial (without reality)
- vadVemptily, in an empty state
- viempty, without content
- vi-pderived, psychologicalbe blank in one's mindCH
- vi-Pfigurativebe empty (and all receptive?)
- vi.redbe all empty
- vibuddhistBUDDH: empty, void, insubstantial (without self-nature, interdependent, and subject to constant change); skr. śūnya
- vtoNcausative(to cause to be empty>) to deplete, to empty
- vtoNcausativebe emptied
空虛 kōng xū OC: khooŋ qhla MC: khuŋ hi̯ɤ 21 Attributions
- Syntactic words
- NPabemptiness; empty disorientation
- NPsubjectthat which is all empty and deserted; empty space
- VPifigurativebe empty, disorientated and receptive; be all empty
- VPiintensitivebe all empty; also poetically: be all empty and deserted
空寂 kōng jì OC: khooŋ sɡlɯɯwɡ MC: khuŋ dzek 5 Attributions
- Syntactic words
- VPifigurativeBUDDH: be empty > be insubstantial; existing only in dependance of other factors
虛無 xū wú OC: qhla ma MC: hi̯ɤ mi̯o 5 Attributions
- Syntactic words
- NPabmetaphysicalemptiness; receptiveness to relevant experience
- NPabpoeticinsignificance; meaninglessness; pointlessness,CH
- viactpractice emptiness
- VPadNnonreferentialwhat is/seems devoid of significanceCH
- VPibe inane
寥 liáo OC: ɡ-rɯɯw MC: leu 4 Attributions
- Syntactic words
- vivoid; empty; deserted
- vi.redbe all empty
- vtoNcausativeempty outCH
曠 kuàng OC: khʷaaŋs MC: khɑŋ 3 Attributions
- Syntactic words
- vibe vast and empty
- vtoNcausativeleave empty; cause to be all empty
虛空 xū kōng OC: qhla khooŋ MC: hi̯ɤ khuŋ 3 Attributions
- Syntactic words
- NPempty space
- NPabfigurativeBUDDH: emptiness, voidness; SANSKRIT Śūnyatā (see also 空)
- VPadNfigurativedestitute
- VPifigurativebe completely empty>without resources
沖 chōng OC: ɡrluŋ MC: ɖuŋ 2 Attributions
- Syntactic words
- vibe empty
無形 wú xíng OC: ma ɡeeŋ MC: mi̯o ɦeŋ 2 Attributions
- Syntactic words
- NP[adN]what has no shapeCH
- NPabmetathe formless
- VPibe without physcial form or manifestation; be incorporeal
廓 kuò OC: khʷaaɡ MC: khɑk 1 Attribution
Kuò 廓 and kuàng 曠 emphasise the expansiveness of the empty space.
- Syntactic words
- nabdimensionempty space
- vibe empty
窳 yǔ OC: loʔ MC: ji̯o 1 Attribution
- Syntactic words
- vadNsuperfluous, futile, worthless
罄 qìng OC: kheeŋs MC: kheŋ 1 Attribution
- Syntactic words
- vibe empty (vessels) (SHI)
- vtoNcausativeto empty completely (the mind etc)CH
闋 què OC: khʷiid MC: khet 1 Attribution
- Syntactic words
- nabfeatureemptiness
闕 què, quē OC: khod MC: khi̯ɐt 1 Attribution
- Syntactic words
- vi(of moon:) wane
寂寞 jì mò OC: sɡlɯɯwɡ maaɡ MC: dzek mɑk
寂漠 jì mò OC: sɡlɯɯwɡ maaɡ MC: dzek mɑk 1 Attribution
- Syntactic words
- NPabemptinessCH
- VPibe all empty
空曠 kōng kuàng OC: khooŋ khʷaaŋs MC: khuŋ khɑŋ 1 Attribution
- Syntactic words
- VPadNempty and vast
白 bái OC: braaɡ MC: bɣɛk 1 Attribution
- Syntactic words
- vadN
空豁 kōng huò huō, huá MC: khuwng xwat OC: khooŋ qhʷaadCH 1 Attribution
- Syntactic words
- VPibe all receptive and all-encompassingCH
兀 wù MC: ngwot OC: ŋɡluudCH 1 Attribution
- Syntactic words
- vifigurativebe blank-minded; be empty-headed CH
大虛 dà xū MC: dajH -- OC: daads qhlaCH 1 Attribution
- Syntactic words
- NPVast VoidCH
童 tóng MC: duwng OC: dooŋLZ 1 Attribution
- Syntactic words
- vichangebecome deforested, denudatedLZ
窬 yú MC: yu OC: loCH 1 Attribution
- Syntactic words
- vtoNcausativeto hollowCH
無人 wú rén MC: mju nyin OC: ma njinCH 1 Attribution
- Word relations
- Epithet: 野/COUNTRYSIDE
The current general word for the undelimited non-urban areas is yě 野 (ant. yì 邑 "urbanised settlement").
- Syntactic words
- VPadNunpopulatedCH
泬 xuè OC: qhʷliiɡ MC: het 0 Attributions
- Syntactic words
- viempty
洫 xù OC: qhʷrɯɡ MC: hɨk 0 Attributions
- Syntactic words
- vtoNcausativecause to be emtpty> drain (GUAN) ??
無 wú OC: ma MC: mi̯o 0 Attributions
Wú 無 (ant. yǒu 有 "existence") refers to the philosophical abstract construct of "nothingness, emptiness".
- Syntactic words
- nabmetaphysicalnothingness, emptiness LAO
閬 láng OC: ɡ-raaŋ MC: lɑŋ 0 Attributions
- Syntactic words
- vispacious; empty
太空 tài kōng OC: thaads khooŋ MC: thɑi khuŋ 0 Attributions
- Syntactic words
- NPabmetaphysicalthe Great Void
舜若多 shùn rě duō OC: qjuns njaʔ k-laal MC: ɕʷin ȵɣɛ tɑ 0 Attributions
- Syntactic words
- NPabbuddhistBUDDH: emptiness, voidness (this phonetic transliteration is rather rare in Chinese Buddhist texts, the common term is kōng 空); SANSKRIT śūnyatā
孔 kǒng OC: khooŋʔ MC: khuŋ 0 Attributions
- Syntactic words
- vadN
徒 tú OC: daa MC: duo̝ 0 Attributions
- Syntactic words
- vadN.adVempty, bare 徒手搏虎 "wrestle with a tiger with bare hands"
Click here to add pinyin MC: OC: CH 0 Attributions
- Syntactic words
- VPibe all receptive and all-encompassingCH
Click here to add pinyin MC: OC: CH 0 Attributions
- Syntactic words
- vifigurativebe blank-minded; be empty-headed CH
Click here to add pinyin MC: OC: CH 0 Attributions
- Syntactic words
- vifigurativebe dissiccated, inwardly shrivelled upCH
豁 huò huō, huá MC: xwat OC: qhʷaadCH 0 Attributions
- Syntactic words
- vifigurativebe dissiccated, inwardly shrivelled upCH
Existing SW for
Here are Syntactic Words already defined in the database: