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Definition 2024


Translingual

Stroke order
Stroke order

Han character

(radical 42 小+0, 3 strokes, cangjie input 弓金 (NC), four-corner 90000, composition)

  1. Kangxi radical #42, (small).
  2. Shuōwén Jiězì radical №15

Derived terms

References

  • KangXi: page 296, character 18
  • Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 7473
  • Dae Jaweon: page 587, character 8
  • Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 1, page 560, character 12
  • Unihan data for U+5C0F

Chinese

simp. and trad.

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character
Oracle bone script Bronze inscriptions Bamboo and silk script Large seal script Small seal script
Characters in the same phonetic series () (Zhengzhang, 2003) 
Old Chinese
*sm̥ʰreːw, *sm̥ʰreːws
*sm̥ʰreːw, *sm̥ʰreːws
*sm̥ʰreːw, *sm̥ʰreːws
*sm̥ʰreːw, *mewʔ
*sʰroːʔ
*sm̥ʰreːwʔ, *mewʔ
*sm̥ʰreːws
*sm̥ʰreːws
*mewʔ
*mewʔ
*mewʔ
*mewʔ
*mewʔ, *mews
*mews
*mews
*sm̥ʰewʔ
*smewʔ
*hmjewʔ, *hmjews
*m̥ʰjewʔ
*senʔ, *smos

Ideogram (指事) . Two interpretations of as an ideogram are possible:

  1. It shows a person () with lowered arms, implying the meaning of small. In contrast, (the character for large), symbolizes a person () with arms outstretched.
  2. It shows an item divided into smaller parts by a knife .

In oracle bone script form, it is represented by a picture of three sand granules; compare with (OC *hmjewʔ, *hmjews), represented by four dots in its oracle bone script form.

Pronunciation



Rime
Character
Reading # 1/1
Initial () (16)
Final () (91)
Tone (調) Rising (X)
Openness (開合) Open
Division () III
Fanqie
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang
Shangfang
/siᴇuX/
Pan
Wuyun
/siɛuX/
Shao
Rongfen
/sjæuX/
Edwin
Pulleyblank
/siawX/
Li
Rong
/siɛuX/
Wang
Li
/sĭɛuX/
Bernard
Karlgren
/si̯ɛuX/
Expected
Mandarin
Reflex
xiǎo
Baxter-Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character
Reading # 1/1
Modern
Beijing
(Pinyin)
xiǎo
Middle
Chinese
‹ sjewX ›
Old
Chinese
/*[s]ewʔ/
English small

Notes for Old Chinese notations in the Baxter-Sagart system:

* Parentheses "()" indicate uncertain presence;
* Square brackets "[]" indicate uncertain identity, e.g. *[t] as coda may in fact be *-t or *-p;
* Angle brackets "<>" indicate infix;
* Hyphen "-" indicates morpheme boundary;

* Period "." indicates syllable boundary.
Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character
Reading # 1/1
No. 13705
Phonetic
component
Rime
group
Rime
subdivision
2
Corresponding
MC rime
Old
Chinese
/*smewʔ/
Notes

Definitions

  1. small, tiny, little
    Antonyms: ()
    • 小孩 (xiǎohái, “child”)
  2. minor, petty
  3. briefly, for a short while
    • 小憩 (xiǎoqì, “brief rest”)
  4. slightly, a little
  5. young
    Antonyms: (lǎo)
  6. (the) youngest
    • 兒子 / 儿子   xiǎoérzǐ   youngest son
  7. a young person; child, kid, baby
    • 一家老   yījiālǎoxiǎo   the entire family, old and young
  8. Prefix used in front of family name to indicate informality or affection (for young people, (lǎo) for elder people).
    • For example, Someone called 李國寶/李国宝 can be called 小李.
  9. (humble) my, our
    •    xiǎo   [humble] I
    •    xiǎo   [humble] my daughter
    •    xiǎode   [humble] I
  10. Short for 小學小学 (xiǎoxué, “primary school”). Used only in the abbreviation of a school name.
    •    Èr Xiǎo   No.2 Primary School
  11. (euphemistic, Cantonese) a euphemism of (diǎo)
Synonyms
Dialectal synonyms of (“small”)
Variety Location Words
Formal (Written Standard Chinese)
Mandarin Beijing
Taiwan
Tianjin
Jinan
Xi'an
Wuhan
Chengdu
Yangzhou
Hefei
Cantonese Guangzhou
Hong Kong
Taishan
Yangjiang
Gan Nanchang
Hakka Meixian
Xingning
Huidong (Huizhou)
Qujiang
Xiaosanjiang
Changting
Pingyu
Wuping
Liancheng
Ninghua
Ruijin
Miaoli (N. Sixian)
Liudui (S. Sixian)
Hsinchu (Hailu)
Dongshi (Dabu)
Zhuolan (Raoping)
Yunlin (Zhao'an)
Jin Taiyuan
Min Bei Jian'ou
Min Dong Fuzhou
Min Nan Quanzhou
Xiamen
Zhangzhou
Taipei
Kaohsiung
Tainan
Taichung
Yilan
Lukang
Sanxia
Kinmen
Magong
Hsinchu
Chaozhou
Wu Suzhou
Wenzhou
Xiang Changsha
Shuangfeng

Compounds

Descendants

Sino-Xenic ():

Japanese

Kanji

(grade 1 “Kyōiku” kanji)

Readings

Compounds

Idioms

Kanji in this term
しょう
Grade: 1
on'yomi

Pronunciation

Noun

(hiragana しょう, romaji shō, historical hiragana せう)

  1. smallness; small size, small (sometimes used as an abbreviation for small serving, etc.)

Prefix

(hiragana しょう, romaji shō-, historical hiragana せう)

  1. small, little

(hiragana , romaji ko-)

  1. less in size or quantity, small, little, short
  2. less in intensity, small, light, slight
  3. of secondary importance, secondary, sub-
  4. infant

Related terms

Suffix

(hiragana しょう, romaji -shō, historical hiragana せう)

  1. suffix after names of elementary schools
    佃小 (つくだしょう)
    tsukuda-shō
    Tsukuda Elementary School

References

  1. 2006, 大辞林 (Daijirin), Third Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, ISBN 4-385-13905-9
  2. 1998, NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 (NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: NHK, ISBN 978-4-14-011112-3

Korean

Hanja

(so)
Eumhun:

  • Sound (hangeul):  (revised: so, McCune-Reischauer: so, Yale: so)
  • Name (hangeul): 작다 (revised: jakda, McCune-Reischauer: chakta, Yale: cakta)
  1. smallness, small things

Compounds


Vietnamese

Han character

(tiểu)

  1. (only before noun) small