• adj. 空的；無意義的；無知的；徒勞的
• vt. 使失去；使…成為空的
• vi. 成為空的；流空
• n. 空車；空的東西

來自古英語emty, 休閑，空閑。e, 沒有，詞源同out, ordeal(其詞源同deal out), -mt, 必須，詞源同must. 插入字母p緩和讀音。原義為非必須的，有空的，詞義由時間引申為空間。

empty

empty: [OE] The original meaning of Old English ?mtig appears to have been ‘unoccupied, at leisure’, and it was only secondarily that it developed the physical connotations of ‘not full’ which have come down to us in empty. (It also meant ‘unmarried’.) It was a derivative of the noun ?metta ‘rest, leisure’. This is a word of uncertain history, but it has been plausibly analysed as the negative prefix ?- plus a derivative of the root which produced modern English mete (as in ‘mete out’), meaning something like ‘not assigned’.
=> mete

empty (adj.)

c. 1200, from Old English ?mettig "at leisure, not occupied; unmarried," also "containing nothing, unoccupied," from ?metta "leisure," from ? "not" + -metta, from motan "to have" (see might (n.)). The -p- is a euphonic insertion.

Sense evolution from "at leisure" to "containing nothing, unoccupied" is paralleled in several languages, such as Modern Greek adeios "empty," originally "freedom from fear," from deios "fear." "The adj. adeios must have been applied first to persons who enjoyed freedom from duties, leisure, and so were unoccupied, whence it was extended to objects that were unoccupied" [Buck]. Related: Emptier. Figurative sense of empty-nester attested by 1960.

empty (n.)

"an empty thing" that was or is expected to be full, 1865, from empty (adj.). At first of barges, freight cars, mail pouches.

empty (v.)

1520s, from empty (adj.); replacing Middle English empten, from Old English ge?mtigian. Related: Emptied; emptying.

1. Empty the contents of the pan into the sieve.

將鍋里的東西倒到篩子上。

來自柯林斯例句

2. She showed him around the ground floor of the empty house.

她帶他參觀了這處空房子的底樓。

來自柯林斯例句

3. She went to the sink and ran water into her empty glass.

她走到水槽邊，把空玻璃杯灌上水。

來自柯林斯例句

4. His voice sounded oddly resonant in the empty room.

他的聲音在這空蕩蕩的房間里聽起來異常嘹亮。

來自柯林斯例句

5. Her parting words left him feeling empty and alone.

她分手時說的話讓他感覺空虛孤獨。

來自柯林斯例句