小

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Translingual[edit]

Han character[edit]

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Radical 42 小

小 (radical 42 小+0, 3 strokes, cangjie input 弓金 (NC), four-corner 90000, composition ⿻亅八)

Derived terms[edit]

References[edit]

  • 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[edit]

-
simp. and trad.
 小

Etymology[edit]

Stroke order
小-bw.png
Stroke order
小-order.gif

Unknown. Possibly related to 少 ("few, little; young").

Graphically: Ideogram (指事). Two interpretations are possible:

  1. 小 shows a person (人) with lowered arms, implying the meaning of small. In contrast, 大 (the character for large), symbolizes a person (人) with arms outstretched.
  2. Something divided in into smaller part 八 by a knife 亅.
小 小 小 小
Oracle bone script Bronze inscriptions Large seal script Small seal script

In Oracle bone script form, picture of three sand granules. compare with 少, represented by four dot in its oracle bone script form.

Pronunciation[edit]

Middle Chinese pronunciation (小, reconstructed)
Character (小), Pronunciation 1/1

Initial: 心 (16)
Final: 宵
Division: III

Openness: Open
Tone: Rising (X)

 Fanqie: 私兆切
Zhengzhang
Shangfang		 Bernard
Karlgren		 Li
Rong		 Pan
Wuyun		 Edwin
Pulleyblank		 Wang
Li		 Shao
Rongfen
/siᴇuX/ /si̯ɛuX/ /siɛuX/ /siɛuX/ /siawX/ /sĭɛuX/ /sjæuX/
Old Chinese pronunciation (小, reconstructed)
Baxter-Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character Modern Beijing
(Pinyin)		 Middle Chinese Old Chinese English
小 xiǎo ‹ sjewX › /*[s]ewʔ/ 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 No. Phonetic
component		 Rime
group		 Rime
subdivision		 Corresponding
MC rime		 Old Chinese Notes
小 13705 小 宵 2 小 /*smewʔ/ 甲金文象沙而指小，指事字

Definitions[edit]

小

  1. small, tiny, little
  2. minor, petty
  3. briefly, for a short while
  4. slightly, a little
  5. young
  6. (the) youngest
  7. a young person; child, kid, baby
  8. Prefix used in front of family name to indicate informality or affection (for young people, 老 for elder people).
    • Someone called 李國寶／李国宝 can be called 小李.
  9. (humble) my, our
  10. (euphemistic, Cantonese) a euphemism of 屌
Antonyms[edit]
  • 大 ("big, tall, major")
  • 老 ("old; informal prefix for older people")

Descendants[edit]

Sino-Xenic (小):

Japanese[edit]

Kanji[edit]

See also:
小

(grade 1 “Kyōiku” kanji)

Readings[edit]

Compounds[edit]

compounds containing "小"

Idioms[edit]

Noun[edit]

小 (hiragana しょう, romaji shō)

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

Prefix[edit]

小 (hiragana しょう, romaji shō-)

  1. small, little

小 (hiragana こ, 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[edit]

  • 子 (ko-): child
  • 児 (ko-): child
  • 娘 (ko-): daughter
  • 仔 (ko-): offspring

Suffix[edit]

小 (hiragana しょう, romaji -shō)

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

Korean[edit]

Hanja[edit]

小 (so)
Eumhun:

  • Sound (hangeul): 소 (revised: so, McCune-Reischauer: so, Yale: so)
  • Name (hangeul): 작다 (revised: jakda, McCune-Reischauer: chakta, Yale: cakta)
  1. This entry needs a definition. Please add one, then remove {{defn}}.

Vietnamese[edit]

Han character[edit]

小 (tiểu, tĩu)

  1. This entry needs a definition. Please add one, then remove {{defn}}.
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