# empty

> English word · Adjective · IPA /ˈɛm(p).ti/ · frequency rank #2,533

## Definitions
1. Devoid of content; containing nothing or nobody; vacant.
2. Containing no elements (as of a string, array, or set), opposed to being null (having no valid value).
3. Free; clear; devoid; often with of.
4. Having nothing to carry, emptyhanded; unburdened.
5. Destitute of effect, sincerity, or sense; said of language.
6. Unable to satisfy; hollow; vain.
7. Destitute of reality, or real existence; unsubstantial.
8. Destitute of, or lacking, sense, knowledge, or courtesy.
9. Not pregnant; not producing offspring when expected to do so during the breeding season.
10. Producing nothing; unfruitful.
11. Hungry.
12. Lacking between the onset of tasting and the finish.

## Etymology
From Middle English emty, amty, from Old English ǣmtiġ, ǣmettiġ (“vacant, empty, free, idle, unmarried”, literally “without must or obligation, leisurely”), from Proto-Germanic *uz- (“out”) + Proto-Germanic *mōtijô, *mōtô (“must, obligation, need”), *mōtiþô (“ability, accommodation”), from Proto-Indo-European *med- (“measure; to acquire, possess, be in command”). Related to Old English ġeǣmtigian (“to empty”), ǣmetta (“leisure”), mōtan (“can, to be allowed”). More at mote, meet.
The interconsonantal excrescent p is a euphonic insertion dating from Middle English.

## Easily confused with
- **EMT** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/empty-vs-emt)
- **enmity** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/empty-vs-enmity)
- **Emmy** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/emmy-vs-empty)
- **emit** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/emit-vs-empty)
- **Emily** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/emily-vs-empty)
- **emery** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/emery-vs-empty)
- **employ** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/employ-vs-empty)
- **empathy** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/empathy-vs-empty)

## Common misspellings (8)
`emmpty`, `emppty`, `emptty`, `emptyy`, `empyt`, `emtpy`, `epmty`, `mepty`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/empty