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You’ve likely heard of “voiding the check.” Well, today we’ll be doing the inverse—checking the void. That is, we’ll look at more ways in which 空 conveys a sense of emptiness … or even a yawning void!
A Mind Is a
Terrible Thing to Empty
Empty the mind, empty the mind. That’s supposed to be the goal of meditation. But what if people really were empty? That wouldn’t be optimal, according to this compound:
空け者 (utsukemono: fool, idiot, dunce) empty + person
On Options for
Insulting Someone …
When 空 has the kun-yomi utsuke, it means “empty-headed” or even “dumb”! Here’s that yomi as a verb:
空ける (utsukeru)
This word has two meanings:
1. to become empty or hollow
2. to relax from a tense situation into a vacant or absent-minded state
I knew bad things were bound to happen with relaxation. That’s why I’ve never tried it!
Seemingly, another compound also refers to emptying the self:
Empty + self sounds very spiritual and deep. It must be related to Zen and enlightenment. But … what’s this? It means “traveling alone and with little luggage”!
Null and Void
With the yomi kara, 空 means “void of content,” particularly when serving as a prefix. That’s the role 空 appears to play in these words:
空梅雨 (karatsuyu: unusually dry rainy season)
empty + plum + rain空吹かし (karafukashi: idling (of an engine)) void of content + to smoke, blow, emit
This breakdown looks like “not smoking” or “devoid of emissions,” but karafukashi (also pronounced karabukashi) is a far cry from that! As we know, a car typically emits quite a bit while idling! In fact, I’m told that although my dictionary defines 空吹かし as “idling,” the word can also mean “stepping on the accelerator of a stopped car, causing the car to ‘blow’ out its emissions.”
The concept of a void (or vacancy) may well explain these next compounds, which are comically specific:
空写し (karautsushi: clicking the shutter of a camera without taking a picture (because no film is loaded, or in order to advance the film)) empty, void + to be photographed
I could have consolidated the definition, but the verbosity tickled me so much that I left it as I found it.
空馬 (kara-uma: unburdened horse) empty + horse
Here, the horse isn’t empty (as an empty stomach is empty) but rather lacks a rider. So far, so logical. But what of the next compound?!
天馬空を行く(tenbakū o iku: to advance unobstructed)
heaven + horse + unoccupied + to goThe on-yomi KŪ can mean “unoccupied,” so I’ve changed the breakdown accordingly. And still I’m stumped. Is this about going to heaven on an unoccupied horse? Is 天馬空を行く the Japanese answer to Zeppelin’s stairway to heaven? Or do all unoccupied horses (especially Japanese ones) go to heaven?
Leaving such mysteries aside, we can now turn to today’s Verbal Logic Quizzes. The red link below will take you there with the speed of a winged horse.
