空港
くうこう · kuukou · JLPT N4 · noun
airport
✈️ 空港 = sky + harbour: a port for ships of the air
空 (kuu) means sky or empty; 港 (kou) means harbour or port. Same logic as English air + port. Both syllables are long: kuu-kou, two stretched beats that rhyme in length.
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.'
港 — water radical 氵 + 巷 (alley)
A semantic-phonetic compound: 氵 (water) gives the meaning, while 巷 (alley) supplies the sound. Originally referred to a branch of a river or a small waterway, then extended to mean a sheltered inlet where boats could moor — a harbor or port.