# 空



## Isidore Demsky

Can 空 mean vanity?


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## SoLaTiDoberman

Maybe yes. But not the meaning of "excessive pride in one's own appearance."
It means "vacant," "nothing,"  "none."


For example:
真空＝true nothing=vacuum
空白＝nothing and white = empty
空気＝no ( transparent) air ＝atmosphere, air
空洞＝empty hole
空家＝a vacant house
空（そら）＝sky
空海＝sky and sea (the proper name of the ancient Buddhist prist in Japan)


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## 810senior

Since the 空 is a word of multiple uses pronounceable in several words, could you keep us updated on the context?


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## Isidore Demsky

There is no context, really.

I just noticed "vanity" was one of the definitions given in an online kanji dictionary, if that was one of the meanings.

In English, "vanity" can be associated with pride, but it can also be associated with emptiness, foolishness, or falsehood.

Can 空 mean vanity in the sense of foolishness or falsehood?

And how would you pronounce it?

<mod: irrelevant question deleted>


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## Isidore Demsky

SoLaTiDoberman said:


> Maybe yes. But not the meaning of "excessive pride in one's own appearance."
> It means "vacant," "nothing,"  "none."
> 
> 
> For example:
> 真空＝true nothing=vacuum
> 空白＝nothing and white = empty
> 空気＝no ( transparent) air ＝atmosphere, air
> 空洞＝empty hole
> 空家＝a vacant house
> 空（そら）＝sky
> 空海＝sky and sea (the proper name of the ancient Buddhist prist in Japan)


Can it mean false or foolish?


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## Flaminius

The "vanity" sense of 空 (_kū_) is the vanity of Qohelet as in "vanity of vanities."  It's not false or foolish.


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## Isidore Demsky

Flaminius said:


> The "vanity" sense of 空 (_kū_) is the vanity of Qohelet as in "vanity of vanities."  It's not false or foolish.


The Hebrew word "habel" used in the biblical passage you referenced (Eccl. 1:2) actually can mean falsehood.

Strong's exhaustive concordance defines it as follows:

Breath (5), delusion (2), emptily (1), emptiness (2), fleeting (2), fraud (1), futile (1), futility (13), idols (7), mere breath (2), nothing (1), useless (1), vain (3), vainly (1), vanity (19), vanity of vanities (3), vapor (1), worthless (2).

I would like to know if 空 (_kū_) has a similar range of meanings in Japanese?

Can it mean delusion, or fraud?

I'd also like to know if  空 (_kū_) has something in common with the word "ma"?

Can they both mean empty space?


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## Isidore Demsky

If I'm reading it right, this online Japanese dictionary says that it can mean falsehood.
JapanDict Japanese dictionary - Definition of 空

So do I understand what this dictionary is saying?

Can 空 (_kū_) mean lie, falsehood, and fake?


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## 810senior

Isidore Demsky said:


> If I'm reading it right, this online Japanese dictionary says that it can mean falsehood.


As written in the quote, _sora _could mean falseness in part as long as it is combined with other words e.g. soramimi(misheard lyrics, lit. *sora[faked]*-ear) and *sorani*(unrelated person, lit.*sora[faked, un-]*-similarity), however the word itself doesn't mean it no more.

I'm not sure if kuu(often translated as void or emptiness) too has something to do with falseness while it includes compounded words related.


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## Isidore Demsky

So _*mimi*_ means "ear" and *sora* can mean "fake," right?

And sora+mimi means something like "*lying ear*," right?


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## Flaminius

The *word* _kū_ is either emptiness or sky.  It can appear as a morpheme in other words that mean falsehood (空言; literally, "empty word") or delusion (空想; literally, "empty thought").  These collocations notwithstanding, 空 itself does not mean "false" or "delusional."

Admittedly, a lot of dictionaries explain an entry that consists of a single Chinese character (e.g., 空) by jumbling together all possible "readings" such as から, そら, くう.  In fact they are separate *words* that happen to share a common script representation.  Dictionaries also tend to list major words that contain the entry character (e.g., 空).  You have to be very careful not to confound the meaning of the derived words with that the character has as a *word*.


Isidore Demsky said:


> *sora* can mean "fake," right?


Yes, but in limited contexts such as 空を使う.



Isidore Demsky said:


> And sora+mimi means something like "*lying ear*," right?


No.  You cannot impart the derived meaning back to the morpheme with which the derived word is made.


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## SoLaTiDoberman

Isidore Demsky said:


> Can it mean false or foolish?



Yes.
空耳（そらみみ）＝false ear= "hear things"

絵空事（えそらごと）＝ a lie or an exaggerated thing which would be foolish, a fake story


However, 空 alone cannot mean false or foolish. You have to combine plural kanji(s) in order to make the special meanings.

空耳 and 絵空事 are more like completely new different words of their own.
In other word, they look like "idioms."
空 alone cannot express the idiomatic meanings, you know?


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## Isidore Demsky

SoLaTiDoberman said:


> Yes.
> 空耳（そらみみ）＝false ear= "hear things"
> 
> 絵空事（えそらごと）＝ a lie or an exaggerated thing which would be foolish, a fake story
> 
> 
> However, 空 alone cannot mean false or foolish. You have to combine plural kanji(s) in order to make the special meanings.
> 
> 空耳 and 絵空事 are more like completely new different words of their own.
> In other word, they look like "idioms."
> 空 alone cannot express the idiomatic meanings, you know?


And what would 絵空 mean without 事?

There'd be no connotation of falsehood would there?

The question was whether 事 can have that connotation, and the answer seems to be yes.

And the dictionary lists "lie" as one of it's meanings.

Thank you.


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## SoLaTiDoberman

空事＝false thing
絵=picture, not photograph, drawn picture which may not real

空＝"falsehood" in this idiom
事＝thing

絵空事=a false thing like a drawn picture


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## Isidore Demsky

I cut and pasted the wrong kanji in my last post, and I just tried to edit it to correct that error.

I meant to ask you what 絵事 would mean without 空?

Does the addition of 空 add the idea of falsehood?

If it does I think that answers my original question, and I thank you for your reply.

Btw, is this dictionary right when it lists "lie" as one of the meanings of 空?


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## Flaminius

Isidore Demsky said:


> what 絵事 would mean without 空?


It does not mean anything.  The word is structured as [絵 [空事]].  空事 is literally empty fact or word and means fiction. Then, it is prefixed with 絵, which is literally picture and means "not real" here since a picture is just the appearance of the substance.  Thus, 絵 intensifies the meaning of 空事.

You might wonder if 空事 is composed as lying + word.  Like I said above, the answer is No.  Even here 空 means empty and 絵空事 means fictitious stories.  While the negative nuance in the word is unmistakable, it's not always a lie.  You can use the word to criticize a too optimistic sales projection, for example.  I tend to preserve the lying sense to unrealistic words said with an intention to deceive people.  It follows that the association of 空 with "lie" or "lying" only arises from the context.



Isidore Demsky said:


> Btw, is this dictionary right when it lists "lie" as one of the meanings of 空?


Let me point out that this is part of the definition given to the word _sora_.  It is different from _kū_, which I thought you have questions with, judging from your opening post about "vanity."  Only _kū _turns up in translations for Qohelet's "vanity of vanities" (in sense of "completely empty").  The word _sora_ does not mean emptiness by itself.  The word can mean "lie" but in a very limited cases, perhaps just in the phrase 空を使う that I mentioned above.

Your dictionary has very rare senses listed:


> far-off place, distant place
> state of mind, feeling
> often as 〜空もない


They are, like the lying sense, idiomatic senses that are only present in certain constructions.  In other words, these meanings are not present in a standalone _sora_.  Your dictionary does not distinguish the word and its use in idiomatic expressions.  You, then, confuse one with the other.


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## Isidore Demsky

Thank you.

So 事 means "thing," "word," "matter" "business,"or "fact."

Doesn't it?

And 空事 means a false thing or word, right?

It doesn't mean nothing, or silence, does it?

So it is the additional of 空 that adds the idea of falseness to 事 (thing), isn't it?

After all, when you add the idea of empty (in the sense of vacuum or void) to "thing" you get "nothing."

And when you add the idea of empty (in the sense of vacuum or void) to "word" you get silence.

And that's not what 空事 means, is it?

What I wanted to know was if 空 was similar to the Hebrew word "habel" (which means void, but can also mean false), and it would seem that it is.


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## Flaminius

Inasmuch as the word _sora_ conveys "the idea of falseness," it is present only in limited contexts.  As a noun, it means "falsehood" only as the object of _tsukau_.  As a bound morpheme, it has a productive use as "false" but it does not add this sense back to the noun.  The "false" sense only arises in association with other morphemes.  I will demonstrate how "adding an idea" can be a faulty reasoning with an English example.

The suffix _-less_ negates the existence of the suffixed noun as many examples like _penniless_, _worthless_ and _helpless_ show.  I call this sense "absence."  It, however, also means "abundance."  Take the word _priceless_.  It does not refer to a thing that is so cheap that it cannot get a price.  On the contrary, it means a thing of immense value.  Since the word is composed of _price_ and _less_, the latter part means "full of," or "abundant with."  My understanding is justified by another word _timeless_, a synonym to _eternal_.

The above paragraph is a complete falsity. I cannot use the conclusion there to make a new word *_brainless_ and mean by it "full of brains," or "abundant with intelligence."  I hope you get by now why I am anxious to limit the "false" sense by reservations such as "in contexts" and "limited use."



Isidore Demsky said:


> What I wanted to know was if 空 was similar to the Hebrew word "habel" (which means void, but can also mean false)



You have to decide first of all which word you mean by this character; _sora_ or _kū_.  As _sora_ cannot mean "void," you might like to refer to my comments on _kū_.


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## SoLaTiDoberman

Mmmm,

I think you and Flam (and I) are talking in a different point of view...

My response to #17 is, "Yes."
I think "habel" and "空" have so much in common as a word of language, in a certain point of view. Although I'm not familiar with "havel" at all. 

If you want to know the etymology and trivia about "空", your understanding is correct.
If you want, however, to choose "空" in your practical writing in Japanese as the special meaning, you should follow the Flam's advice.
"空" alone is most often used as "the sky."


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## Isidore Demsky

In this case, I'm interested in the kanji, and it can represent either ku (which means void) or sora (which, at least as a prefix, in some contexts, can mean false.)

So the kanji does have something in common with the Hebrew word "habel."

And to most theologians, eternal doesn't mean abundant time, but above, beyond, or without time--that's why Augustine attempted to convey his thoughts by speaking of God's "eternal now."

Even priceless means something so valuable that no price could be placed on it.

So in both cases, the English suffix "less" does kinda negate the suffixed noun, and your paragraph isn't *complete* falsity (though I do think the second half of the paragraph, about "less" meaning abundance, is kinda absurd.)

Thank you.


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