空气

Étymologie et composants

The Chinese word 空气 (kōngqì) for "air" is composed of two characters: 空 (kōng) and 气 (qì). The character 空 originally meant "empty" or "void", and it is often used in compounds to indicate the absence of something. For example, the word 天空 (tiānkōng) means "sky", which is literally "empty space". The character 气 originally meant "breath" or "vapor", and it is often used in compounds to refer to different types of energy or forces. For example, the word 元气 (yuánqì) means "vital energy", and the word 脾气 (píqì) means "temper". When the two characters 空 and 气 are combined, they create the word 空气, which literally means "empty breath" or "void energy". This term is used to refer to the air that we breathe, which is a mixture of gases that surrounds the Earth.