Translingual

Stroke order

Han character

少 (radical 42 小+1, 4 strokes, cangjie input 火竹 (FH), four-corner 9020₀, composition ⿱小丿)

Derived characters

• 尟 尠
• 抄 沙 妙 砂 紗 歩 省 秒 雀

References

• KangXi: page 296, character 20
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 7475
• Dae Jaweon: page 590, character 2
• Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 1, page 561, character 2
• Unihan data for U+5C11

Chinese

Glyph origin

Pictogram (象形) – four dots; few; little. Compare 小 (OC *smewʔ, “small”), which is depicted by three dots.

Pronunciation 1

Definitions

少

1. few; little in number; less; not many
   • 很少人知道實情。 / 很少人知道实情。  ―  Hěn shǎo rén zhīdào shíqíng.  ―  Very few people know the truth.
   • 只有很少麵包和餅乾。 [MSC, trad.]
     只有很少面包和饼干。 [MSC, simp.]

     Zhǐyǒu hěn shǎo miànbāo hé bǐnggā. [Pinyin]

     There is only very little bread and biscuits.

2. weak; inadequate; insufficient
3. ^†Alternative form of 小 (xiǎo, “small; tiny”).
4. to lack; to be short of; to be deficient
   • 臥室裡少一隻電燈泡。 [MSC, trad.]
     卧室里少一只电灯泡。 [MSC, simp.]

     Wòshì lǐ shǎo yī zhī diàndēngpào. [Pinyin]

     There's a light bulb missing in the bedroom.

5. to reduce (the amount or extent); to weaken; to lose; to stop; to cease
   • 他屋裡少了東西。 / 他屋里少了东西。  ―  Tā wū lǐ shǎo le dōngxi.  ―  He lost something in his house.
   • 少說廢話！ / 少说废话！  ―  Shǎo shuō fèihuà!  ―  Stop chattering!
6. ^† to despise; to look down; to belittle
7. slightly; moderately; a little; a bit
8. seldom; rarely; infrequently
   • 懶惰的人很少會成功。 [MSC, trad.]
     懒惰的人很少会成功。 [MSC, simp.]

     Lǎnduò de rén hěn shǎo huì chénggōng. [Pinyin]

     Lazy people seldom succeed.

9. in a little while; in a moment

Antonyms

• (few): 多 (duō)

Compounds

Pronunciation 2

Definitions

少

1. young; youthful; juvenile
   • 別看她歲數大，可長得少相。 [MSC, trad.]
     别看她岁数大，可长得少相。 [MSC, simp.]

     Bié kàn tā suìshù dà, kě zhǎng dé shào xiàng. [Pinyin]

     Despite her age, she still looked young.

2. later in a sequence; younger; youngest
3. childhood; youth; young period
4. young man; youngster; junior
5. (historical) deputy; assistant
6. (historical) young master of a rich family
7. A surname​.

Compounds

Japanese

Kanji

(grade 2 “Kyōiku” kanji)

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Readings

• Goon: しょう (shō) < せう (seu)
• Kan’on: しょう (shō) < せう (seu)
• Kun: すくない (少ない, sukunai), すこし (少し, sukoshi), しばらく (shibaraku)

Compounds

Korean

Hanja

少 • ‎(so)
Eumhun:

• Sound (hangeul): 소 (revised: so, McCune-Reischauer: so)

• Name (hangeul): 적을()

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

Vietnamese

Han character

少 (thiểu, thẹo, thểu, thỉu, thiếu, thẻo)

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.