<p>空港 is Japanese; 机场 is Chinese. </p>

<p>Japanese learned Chinese characters from China in ancient times. They called those Chinese characters 'Kanji'. Most Chinese terms retained their original Chinese meaning in Japanese. But the Japanese also coined some unique terms with Kanji that are not being used in Chinese.</p>

<p>The 空港 sign you saw in China was reverse imported from Japanese.</p>

<blockquote>
  <p><a href="https://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-hant/%E6%BC%A2%E8%AA%9E%E4%B8%AD%E7%9A%84%E6%97%A5%E8%AA%9E%E5%80%9F%E8%A9%9E" rel="noreferrer">https://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-hant/漢語中的日語借詞</a></p>
  
  <p><em>和製漢語
  由於漢語也是因為19世紀時急迫需要翻譯西文，而大量從日本輸入新詞，大部分進入漢語的日語借詞都是日語中的「和製漢語」。舉凡「電話」、「幹部」、「藝術」、「否定」、「肯定」、「假設[2]」、「海拔」、「直接」、「警察」、「雜誌」、「防疫」、「法人」、「航空母艦」都是屬於和製漢語日語借詞。[3]。 要注意的是，並不是所有日語中的「和製漢語」都在現代漢語中通用，如「介錯」、「怪我」、「油斷」這類和製漢語詞都沒有進入漢語。</em></p>
</blockquote>

<p>空港(airport) was in the group of 'Japan coined Chinese' that are not in Chinese vocabulary - until now.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-08-12T05:34:35.217Z
2017-08-12T06:10:34.063Z
2017-08-12T06:10:34.063Z
Tang Ho
<p>At Guangzhou airport recently, I noticed that <a href="http://dict.cn/%E7%A9%BA%E6%B8%AF" rel="nofollow noreferrer">空港</a> (kōnggǎng = literally "air port") was being used to mean airport.  I'm familiar with <a href="http://dict.cn/%E6%9C%BA%E5%9C%BA" rel="nofollow noreferrer">机场</a> (jīchǎng) being used for airport.</p>

<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/PPbHUm.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/PPbHUm.jpg" alt="白云空港世界之家欢迎您"></a></p>

<p><strong>Question</strong>: Is there a distinction between 空港 (kōnggǎng) and 机场 (jīchǎng) which both mean airport?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-08-12T05:23:14.313Z
空港 is Japanese; 机场 is Chinese
Tang Ho
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-08-12T06:30:21.980Z
机场 = 空港. You could draw an analogy between 空港(airport) and 海港(seaport). It sounds to me that 空港 is relevant to goods shipping, while 机场 is the site where airplanes sit in.
dan
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-08-12T15:33:59.193Z
空港 is a direct translation of the word **airport**. 机场 is the short form of 飞机场, literally means **flying machine** (airplane) **field**, like 停车场: stopping-car field, 篮球场: basketball field.
xenophōn
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-08-12T15:50:30.770Z
So many Chinese words are abbreviated form from other words, objectively speaking, some of them are not logical but Chinese people may not realize it. 机场 (a **machine field**?) is an sample word, also like 手电 (a **hand electronics**?) is short for 手电筒 (a **hand-held electronic cylinder**? so what is it in the end?), actually it is flashlight, 手机 (a **hand machine**?) is short for 手持电话机 (**hand-held electronic speaking machine** or **hand-held telephone**), actually it is mobile phone (移动电话 or 移动电话机) or cellphone.
xenophōn
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-08-12T16:02:20.580Z
Though 空港 is a Japanese word made up with Chinese characters, I think it is more logical than 机场. 空港 (English style) and 飞机场 (Chinese style) are better word than 机场. 机场 is a inexplicable, unintelligible word, we are not aware of it for we are accustomed it.
xenophōn
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-08-16T09:16:00.223Z
空港 is more exact, it covers transports & management of airport, while 机场 can only tell us a hardstand (停机坪, static thing, no activities).
Daniel Yang
<usage><difference>
Is there a distinction between 空港 (kōnggǎng) and 机场 (jīchǎng) which both mean airport?
# Is there a distinction between 空港 (kōnggǎng) and 机场 (jīchǎng) which both mean airport?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2017-08-12)

At Guangzhou airport recently, I noticed that [空港](http://dict.cn/%E7%A9%BA%E6%B8%AF) (kōnggǎng = literally "air port") was being used to mean airport. I'm familiar with [机场](http://dict.cn/%E6%9C%BA%E5%9C%BA) (jīchǎng) being used for airport.

[![白云空港世界之家欢迎您](https://i.sstatic.net/PPbHUm.jpg)](https://i.sstatic.net/PPbHUm.jpg)

**Question**: Is there a distinction between 空港 (kōnggǎng) and 机场 (jīchǎng) which both mean airport?

**Tags:** usage, difference
> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: 空港 is Japanese; 机场 is Chinese  
> **username_2**: 机场 = 空港. You could draw an analogy between 空港(airport) and 海港(seaport). It sounds to me that 空港 is relevant to goods shipping, while 机场 is the site where airplanes sit in.  
> **username_3**: 空港 is a direct translation of the word **airport**. 机场 is the short form of 飞机场, literally means **flying machine** (airplane) **field**, like 停车场: stopping-car field, 篮球场: basketball field.  
> **username_3**: So many Chinese words are abbreviated form from other words, objectively speaking, some of them are not logical but Chinese people may not realize it. 机场 (a **machine field**?) is an sample word, also like 手电 (a **hand electronics**?) is short for 手电筒 (a **hand-held electronic cylinder**? so what is it in the end?), actually it is flashlight, 手机 (a **hand machine**?) is short for 手持电话机 (**hand-held electronic speaking machine** or **hand-held telephone**), actually it is mobile phone (移动电话 or 移动电话机) or cellphone.  
> **username_3**: Though 空港 is a Japanese word made up with Chinese characters, I think it is more logical than 机场. 空港 (English style) and 飞机场 (Chinese style) are better word than 机场. 机场 is a inexplicable, unintelligible word, we are not aware of it for we are accustomed it.  
> **username_4**: 空港 is more exact, it covers transports & management of airport, while 机场 can only tell us a hardstand (停机坪, static thing, no activities).  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2017-08-12. Score: 7 | Accepted answer

空港 is Japanese; 机场 is Chinese.

Japanese learned Chinese characters from China in ancient times. They called those Chinese characters 'Kanji'. Most Chinese terms retained their original Chinese meaning in Japanese. But the Japanese also coined some unique terms with Kanji that are not being used in Chinese.

The 空港 sign you saw in China was reverse imported from Japanese.

> [https://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-hant/漢語中的日語借詞](https://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-hant/%E6%BC%A2%E8%AA%9E%E4%B8%AD%E7%9A%84%E6%97%A5%E8%AA%9E%E5%80%9F%E8%A9%9E)
>
> *和製漢語
> 由於漢語也是因為19世紀時急迫需要翻譯西文，而大量從日本輸入新詞，大部分進入漢語的日語借詞都是日語中的「和製漢語」。舉凡「電話」、「幹部」、「藝術」、「否定」、「肯定」、「假設[2]」、「海拔」、「直接」、「警察」、「雜誌」、「防疫」、「法人」、「航空母艦」都是屬於和製漢語日語借詞。[3]。 要注意的是，並不是所有日語中的「和製漢語」都在現代漢語中通用，如「介錯」、「怪我」、「油斷」這類和製漢語詞都沒有進入漢語。*

空港(airport) was in the group of 'Japan coined Chinese' that are not in Chinese vocabulary - until now.


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