掏空

Chinese

		fish out (from pocket)	emptied; leisure; air emptied; leisure; air; sky; empty; in vain
trad. (掏空)		掏	空
simp. #(掏空)		掏	空

Pronunciation 1

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): tāokōng

  (Zhuyin): ㄊㄠ ㄎㄨㄥ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): tou⁴ hung¹, tou¹ hung¹

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: tāokōng
    • Zhuyin: ㄊㄠ ㄎㄨㄥ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: taokong
    • Wade–Giles: tʻao¹-kʻung¹
    • Yale: tāu-kūng
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: taukong
    • Palladius: таокун (taokun)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /tʰɑʊ̯⁵⁵ kʰʊŋ⁵⁵/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: tou⁴ hung¹, tou¹ hung¹
    • Yale: tòuh hūng, tōu hūng
    • Cantonese Pinyin: tou⁴ hung¹, tou¹ hung¹
    • Guangdong Romanization: tou⁴ hung¹, tou¹ hung¹
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /tʰou̯²¹ hʊŋ⁵⁵/, /tʰou̯⁵⁵ hʊŋ⁵⁵/

Verb

掏空

1. (literally) to hollow out; to empty out
2. (figuratively) to use up; to exhaust (one's energy); to rack one's brain

   他掏空家底給兒子治病。 [MSC, trad.]
   他掏空家底给儿子治病。 [MSC, simp.]

   Tā tāokōng jiādǐ gěi érzi zhìbìng. [Pinyin]

   He used up all of family's savings to help treat his son's disease.

   我感覺身體被掏空。 [MSC, trad.]
   我感觉身体被掏空。 [MSC, simp.]

   Wǒ gǎnjué shēntǐ bèi tāokōng. [Pinyin]

   I feel wiped out.

3. (figurative, finance) to engage in tunneling

Pronunciation 2

• Jin (Wiktionary): tau¹ kung³

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• Jin
  • (Taiyuan)⁺
    • Wiktionary: tau¹ kung³
    • Sinological IPA (old-style): /tʰxau¹¹ kʰxũŋ⁴⁵/

Verb

掏空

1. (Jin) to find time (to do something); to take time

Synonyms

Dialectal synonyms of 抽空 (“to find time; to take time”) [map]

Variety	Location	Words edit
Formal (Written Standard Chinese)		抽空, 抽暇, 抽閒
Mandarin	Beijing	抽空兒, 抓空兒
	Taiwan	抽空
Cantonese	Hong Kong	抽時間
Gan	Nanchang	抽空
	Lichuan	抽空
Hakka	Miaoli (N. Sixian)	抽間
	Pingtung (Neipu; S. Sixian)	抽間
	Hsinchu County (Zhudong; Hailu)	抽間
	Taichung (Dongshi; Dabu)	抽間
	Hsinchu County (Qionglin; Raoping)	抽間
Jin	Taiyuan	掏空
Southern Min	Xiamen	撥工, 閬工
	Quanzhou	撥工, 閬工
	Zhangzhou	撥工
	Tainan	撥工, 閬工
Wu	Shanghai	落空
	Danyang	抽空, 候空
Xiang	Changsha	抽空子, 抽空