虚 means “empty, void, false”

きょ · kyo

Also: emptiness, unpreparedness, crack

Kun'yomi (Japanese reading)

むなしい, うつろ

On'yomi (Chinese reading)

キョ, コ

JLPT N1 · Taught in secondary school · 11 strokes

The story

A tiger's head (虍) over an empty frame (业): picture a tiger skin with nothing inside. 虚 is hollowness: 虚しい is feeling empty, 謙虚 is humble, emptied of pride, and 虚偽 is falsehood, as in a 虚偽の申告, a false statement.

Used in 謙虚 (kenkyo, humble/modest), 虚しい (munashii, empty/futile), and 虚偽 (kyogi, falsehood)

More from Hidden & Hazy

• 顕 manifest
• 伏 lie face down
• 漠 vague
• 錯 mixed up
• 謎 riddle
• 匿 hide
• 妄 delusion
• 蔽 cover
• 曖 dim
• 昧 dark
• 踪 trail
• 惑 be bewildered

Learn 虚 and more kanji free on Fuji Learning · All kanji

Readings from KANJIDIC2, © EDRDG, CC BY-SA.