Chinese

Noun

青空

1. blue sky, azure sky

Japanese

Etymology

Compound of 青 ‎(ao, “blue”) +‎ 空 ‎(sora, “sky”). The sora changes to zora due to rendaku (連濁).

The reading was aosora until roughly the mid-Meiji Period. The shift to rendaku pronunciation has been relatively recent.

Pronunciation

• Kun'yomi
• IPA^(key): /aozoɽa/, [äo̞zo̞ɽä]

Noun

青空 ‎(hiragana あおぞら, romaji aozora, historical hiragana あをぞら)

1. a blue sky, a clear sky
2. (when preceding another noun) outdoors, in the open, open-air

   青空 (あおぞら)市場 (いちば)

   aozora ichiba

   an open-air market

Synonyms

• (clear sky): 碧空 (へきくう) ‎(hekikū), 碧天 (へきてん) ‎(hekiten)
• (outdoors): 屋外 (おくがい) ‎(okugai), 露天 (ろてん) ‎(roten)

References

• 2002, Ineko Kondō; Fumi Takano; Mary E Althaus; et. al., Shogakukan Progressive Japanese-English Dictionary, Third Edition, Tokyo: Shōgakukan, ISBN 4095102535.