• adj. 空的；无意义的；无知的；徒劳的
• vt. 使失去；使…成为空的
• vi. 成为空的；流空
• n. 空车；空的东西

来自古英语emty, 休闲，空闲。e, 没有，词源同out, ordeal(其词源同deal out), -mt, 必须，词源同must. 插入字母p缓和读音。原义为非必须的，有空的，词义由时间引申为空间。

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.

将锅里的东西倒到筛子上。

来自柯林斯例句

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

她带他参观了这处空房子的底楼。

来自柯林斯例句

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

她走到水槽边，把空玻璃杯灌上水。

来自柯林斯例句

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

他的声音在这空荡荡的房间里听起来异常嘹亮。

来自柯林斯例句

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

她分手时说的话让他感觉空虚孤独。

来自柯林斯例句