空地
kòngdì · HSK 7
vacant lot
🅿️ 空地 = 空 empty + 地 ground = empty ground, a vacant lot
空 means empty or hollow; 地 means ground or land. Stack them and you get empty land: a gap, an open vacant lot. Pronounced kòngdì, with kòng (4th tone) being the empty sense of 空.
空 — cave radical 穴 + 工 (phonetic)
Originally a phono-semantic compound: 穴 (cave, hole) gives the meaning of emptiness or hollow space, while 工 supplies the sound. The earliest sense was 'hole' or 'cavity,' which extended to 'empty,' 'sky,' and 'in vain.' The reading kòng (4th tone) specifically means 'free time' or 'vacancy.'
地 — earth 土 + 也 (phonetic)
地 is a semantic-phonetic compound. The left component 土 means 'earth' or 'soil' and gives the meaning, while 也 on the right hints at the pronunciation. Originally referring to the ground or land, it broadened to mean 'place,' 'region,' and 'territory.'