空
そら · sora · JLPT N5 · noun
sky
☁️ sora sounds like soar-a: birds soar up in the sora
The kanji 空 also means empty (kara, as in karate = empty hand). The sky is the big empty space overhead, so one character covers both: sora for sky, kara for empty.
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.'
から · kara · JLPT N3 · noun
empty
🎤 Karaoke = kara (empty) + oke (orchestra): music with no singer
Karaoke comes from 空 kara, empty, and オケ oke, short for orchestra. It is the backing track with the vocal part left empty for you to fill. 空 also reads sora, sky, the big empty space overhead.
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.'