掏空

tāokōng

verb #18,982

Meanings

1 to hollow out
2 to empty out
3 to drain (finances, energy)
4 tunneling (finance)

Characters

to dig out; to pull out

Examples

HSK 7-9

他被掏空了全部积蓄。

Tā bèi tāokōng le quánbù jīxù.

All his savings were drained.

HSK 7-9

工人们把山体掏空建了隧道。

Gōngrén men bǎ shāntǐ tāokōng jiàn le suìdào.

The workers hollowed out the mountain to build a tunnel.

Tips

usage

掏空 is widely used figuratively: 被工作掏空了 (drained by work), 掏空家底 (drain the family fortune). In finance, it refers to tunneling -- insiders stripping a company of its assets.

Stroke Order

掏 tāo

空 kōng