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U+5C0F, 小
CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-5C0F

[U+5C0E]
CJK Unified Ideographs
[U+5C10]
U+2F29, ⼩
KANGXI RADICAL SMALL

[U+2F28]
Kangxi Radicals
[U+2F2A]

Translingual

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Stroke order
3 strokes
Stroke order

Han character

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

  1. Kangxi radical #42, .
  2. Shuowen Jiezi radical №15

Derived characters

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Further reading

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

Chinese

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simp. and trad.
alternative forms 𡮐 ancient

Glyph origin

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Historical forms of the character
Shang Western Zhou Warring States Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han) Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Oracle bone script Bronze inscriptions Qin slip script Small seal script Transcribed ancient scripts

Two possible interpretations:

  • Ideogram (指事) – three small dots > small.
  • Pictogram (象形) – three granules of sand – original character of (OC *sraːl, *sraːls) > small.

Starting from some bronze inscriptions, the dots have become elongated. Based on this form, Shuowen erroneously considers it to be an ideogrammic compound (會意会意) : (to divide; to separate) + (small object).

Compare with (OC *hmjewʔ, *hmjews), represented by four dots in its oracle bone script form.

Etymology 1

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Often thought to be related to (OC *hmjewʔ, *hmjews) (e.g. Wang, 1982), but Schuessler (2007) points out that the alternation between Middle Chinese /s-/ and /ɕ-/ within a word family is exceptional.

Pronunciation

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Note:
  • sió - vernacular;
  • siáu - literary.
    • (Teochew)
      • Peng'im: siê2 / sio2 / siao2 / siou2
      • Pe̍h-ōe-jī-like: sié / sió / siáu / sióu
      • Sinological IPA (key): /sie⁵²/, /sio⁵²/, /siau⁵²/, /siou⁵²/
Note:
  • siê2/sio2 - vernacular;
  • siao2/siou2 - literary.

Rime
Character
Reading # 1/1
Initial () (16)
Final () (91)
Tone (調) Rising (X)
Openness (開合) Open
Division () III
Fanqie
Baxter sjewX
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
Expected
Cantonese
Reflex
siu2
BaxterSagart 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

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  1. small, tiny, little
      ―  xiǎohái  ―  child
    Antonym:
  2. minor, petty
  3. briefly, for a short while
      ―  xiǎo  ―  brief rest
  4. slightly, a little
  5. young
      ―  xiǎogǒu  ―  puppy
      ―  xiǎomāo  ―  kitten
      ―  xiǎoyáng  ―  lamb
    嬰兒自己東西 [MSC, trad.]
    婴儿自己东西 [MSC, simp.]
    Zhè yīng'ér tài xiǎo le, bù néng zìjǐ chī dōngxī. [Pinyin]
    The baby is too young to feed itself.
    Antonym: (lǎo)
  6. (the) youngest
    兒子儿子  ―  xiǎo'érzǐ  ―  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
    請多關照 [MSC, trad.]
    请多关照 [MSC, simp.]
    Xiǎo xìng Chén, qǐng duō guānzhào. [Pinyin]
    My surname is Chen, nice to meet you.
  10. Short for 小學小学 (xiǎoxué, “primary school”).
    1. Used in the abbreviation of the name of a primary school.
        ―  Èr Xiǎo  ―  No. 2 Primary School
    2. Used with a number to indicate the level of primary education.
        ―  xiǎo  ―  P1 (first year in primary school)
  11. (dialectal) concubine
Synonyms
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Compounds

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Descendants

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Sino-Xenic ():
  • Japanese: (しょう) (shō)
  • Korean: 소(小) (so)
  • Vietnamese: tiểu ()

Etymology 2

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Pronunciation

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Definitions

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  1. (Cantonese, minced oath) A euphemism of (“to fuck”).
    [Guangzhou Cantonese]  ―  siu2 nei5! [Jyutping]  ―  Duck you!

Etymology 3

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Pronunciation

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Definitions

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  1. (chiefly Taiwan, vulgar) Alternative form of (shào, siâu), chiefly used in 三小 (sānxiǎo).

References

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Japanese

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Kanji

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(First grade kyōiku kanji)

Readings

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Compounds

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See also

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Etymology 1

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

/seu//ɕeu//ɕoː/

From Middle Chinese (MC sjewX).

The suffix sense is a clipping of 小学校 (shōgakkō, elementary school).

Pronunciation

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Noun

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(しょう) (shōせう (seu)?

  1. smallness; small size, small (sometimes used as an abbreviation for small serving, etc.)
  2. Short for 小の月 (shō no tsuki).
  3. (historical) during the Kamakura and Muromachi periods, a unit of field area equal to around 400 square metres (Can we verify(+) this sense?)
    100 square footsteps before the Taikō land survey, and 120 square footsteps after
Antonyms
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Derived terms
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Idioms
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Coordinate terms
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  • (historical unit):
    • (だい) (dai, 200/240 square footsteps)
    • (はん) (han, 150/180 square footsteps; about 595.8m2)
    • (しょう) (shō, 100/120 square footsteps; about 400m2)

Prefix

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(しょう) (shō-せう (seu-)?

  1. small, little

Suffix

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(しょう) (-shōせう (-seu)?

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

Proper noun

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(しょう) (Shōせう (Seu)?

  1. a surname

Etymology 2

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Kanji in this term

Grade: 1
kun'yomi

/ko1//ko/

From the Old Japanese stem (ko-). Cognate with (ko, child).

Prefix

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() (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
Derived terms
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Etymology 3

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Kanji in this term

Grade: 1
kun'yomi

/wo//o/

From the Old Japanese stem (wo-), modern (o-).

Prefix

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() (o- (wo-)?

  1. attached to certain nouns:
    1. small in shape or scale
      (ogawa, creek, literally "small river")
      (obune, small boat)
    2. attached to certain names to give expression or feelings (Can we verify(+) this sense?)
      (Oda, literally, "small rice paddy")
      (Ono, literally, "small field")
  2. used proverbially to represent "small" or "slight" (Can we verify(+) this sense?)
    小止みなく降る雨 (oyaminaku furu ame)
    小暗い (ogurai michi)
Derived terms
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Etymology 4

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Kanji in this term
ささ
Grade: 1
kun'yomi
Kanji in this term
さざ
Grade: 1
kun'yomi

From the Old Japanese stem ささ (sasa-), found in terms such as (sasa, bamboo grass), 囁く (sasayaku, to whisper), and 些か (isasaka, a little), all related to small or slight.

Saza appears to be a later derivation from sasa.

Alternative forms

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Prefix

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(ささ) or (さざ) (sasa- or saza-

  1. attached to certain nouns to mean:
    1. small
    2. fine
    3. slight
Derived terms
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References

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  1. ^ Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN
  2. ^ NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute, editor (1998), NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 [NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary] (in Japanese), Tokyo: NHK Publishing, Inc., →ISBN

Korean

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Etymology

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From Middle Chinese (MC sjewX).

Historical Readings
Dongguk Jeongun Reading
Dongguk Jeongun, 1448 쇼ᇢ〯 (Yale: sywǒw)
Middle Korean
Text Eumhun
Gloss (hun) Reading
Sinjeung Yuhap, 1576 자ᄀᆞᆯ (Yale: cakol) (Yale: sywo)

Pronunciation

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  • (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA(key): [sʰo̞(ː)]
  • Phonetic hangul: [(ː)]
    • Though still prescribed in Standard Korean, most speakers in both Koreas no longer distinguish vowel length.

Hanja

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Korean Wikisource has texts containing the hanja:

Wikisource

(eumhun 작을 (jageul so))

  1. Hanja form? of (smallness; small things).

Compounds

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References

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  • 국제퇴계학회 대구경북지부 (國際退溪學會 大邱慶北支部) (2007). Digital Hanja Dictionary, 전자사전/電子字典. [2]

Vietnamese

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Han character

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: Hán Việt readings: tiểu[1][2][3]
: Nôm readings: tiểu[1][2][3][4], tẻo[1][3], tĩu[3]

  1. (only before noun) Chữ Hán form of tiểu (small).

Compounds

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References

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