填空

• Pinyin: tián kòng
• Hanzi breakdown: 填 = 土 (earth/soil radical) + 真 (genuine, phonetic component); 空 = 穴 (hole/cave radical) + 工 (work, phonetic component)

Meaning

Fill in the blank. A type of question or exercise requiring the learner to supply missing words or information.

Primarily used in educational contexts to describe a common question format in tests and exercises. Also used in everyday speech when referring to completing a form with missing information. As a verb-object compound, 填空 functions both as a noun (a fill-in-the-blank exercise) and as a verb (to fill in blanks).

Examples

1. 这次语文考试有二十道填空题，需要认真复习。 This Chinese test has twenty fill-in-the-blank questions, so careful revision is needed.
2. 老师让我们完成课本第三单元的填空练习。 The teacher asked us to complete the fill-in-the-blank exercises in Unit Three of the textbook.
3. 这份申请表有几个地方需要自己填空，不要漏填。 There are several places on this application form where you need to fill in the blanks yourself — don't leave any out.

Usage Guide

Context: education, official

Tone: neutral

Do Say

• 把这首诗的空白处填上正确的词语。(Fill in the correct words in the blank spaces of this poem.)
• 这道填空题有点难，我不太确定答案。(This fill-in-the-blank question is a bit difficult; I'm not very sure of the answer.)

Don't Say

• 请你把这个空间填好。(Don't use 空间 (space/room) when you mean a blank on a form or in a test — use 空白处 or 空格 instead.)

Origin & History

Verb-object compound of 填 (to fill in) and 空 (blank/empty space), literally 'fill the blank.'

Cultural Context

Generation: All ages

Social background: Universal