小

小 U+5C0F, 小 ← 導[U+5C0E] CJK Unified Ideographs 尐 →[U+5C10] ⼩ U+2F29, ⼩ ← ⼨[U+2F28] Kangxi Radicals ⼪ →[U+2F2A] Stroke order Stroke order

小 (Kangxi radical 42, 小+0, 3 strokes, Cangjie input 弓金 (NC), four-corner 90000, composition ⿻亅八 or ⿲丿亅丶)

1. Kangxi radical #42, ⼩.
2. Shuowen Jiezi radical number 15.

• Appendix:Chinese radical/小
• 仦, 孙, 㭂, 毜, 䚱, 釥, 㕾, 覍, 雀, 示, 厼, 夵, 糸, 䒕, 京, 亰, 県, 齋(斎)

• 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

simp. and trad. 小 alternative forms 𡮐 ancient

Two possible interpretations:

• Ideogram (指事) – three small dots > small.
• Pictogram (象形) – three granules of sand – original character of 沙 (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): 八 (“to divide; to separate”) + 丨 (“small object”).

Compare with 少 (OC *hmjewʔ, *hmjews), represented by four dots in its oracle bone script form. Unrelated to the bottom part of 京, 示, 尞, 尗, and 原.

Often thought to be related to 少 (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.

小

1. small, tiny, little 小孩 ― xiǎohái ― child Antonym: 大
2. minor, petty
3. briefly, for a short while 小憩 ― xiǎoqì ― brief rest
4. slightly, a little
5. young 小狗 ― xiǎogǒu ― puppy 小貓／小猫 ― xiǎomāo ― kitten 小羊 ― xiǎoyáng ― lamb 這嬰兒太小了，不能自己吃東西。 [MSC, trad.]这婴儿太小了，不能自己吃东西。 [MSC, simp.]Zhè yīng’ér tài xiǎo le, bù néng zìjǐ chī dōngxī. [Pinyin]The baby is too young to feed itself. 小布什 ― xiǎo Bùshí ― Bush Jr. (George W. Bush) Antonym: 老 (lǎo)
6. (the) youngest 小兒子／小儿子 ― xiǎo‘érzǐ ― youngest son
7. a young person; child, kid, baby 一家老小 ― yījiālǎoxiǎo ― the entire family, old and young
8. Prefix used in front of family name to indicate informality or affection (for young people, 老 (lǎo) for elder people). For example, Someone called 李國寶／李国宝 can be called 小李.
9. (humble) my, our 小弟 ― xiǎodì ― [humble] I 小女 ― xiǎonǚ ― [humble] my daughter 小的 ― xiǎode ― [humble] I 小姓陳，請多關照。 [MSC, trad.]小姓陈，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. 二小 ― Èr Xiǎo ― No. 2 Primary School
    2. Used with a number to indicate the level of primary education. 小一 ― xiǎoyī ― P1 (first year in primary school)
11. (dialectal) concubine

小

1. (chiefly Taiwan, vulgar) alternative form of 潲 (siâu), chiefly used in 三小 (sānxiǎo)

• “小”, in 漢語多功能字庫 (Multi-function Chinese Character Database)‎[1], 香港中文大學 (the Chinese University of Hong Kong), 2014-
• 李如龙 [Li, Ru-long]; 刘福铸 [Liu, Fu-zhu]; 吴华英 [Wu, Hua-ying]; 黄国城 [Huang, Guo-cheng] (2019), “小”, in 莆仙方言调查报告 [Investigation Report on Puxian Dialect] (overall work in Mandarin and Puxian Min), Xiamen University Press, →ISBN, page 180.

(First grade kyōiku kanji)

• Go-on: しょう (shō, Jōyō)←せう (seu, historical)
• Kan-on: しょう (shō, Jōyō)←せう (seu, historical)
• Kun: ちいさい (chīsai, 小さい, Jōyō)←ちひさい (tifisai, 小さい, historical)、こ (ko, 小, Jōyō)、お (o, 小, Jōyō)←を (wo, 小, historical)、さ (sa, 小)
• Nanori: いさら (isara)、こう (kō)、ささ (sasa)、さざ (saza)、ちいさ (chīsa)←ちひさ (tifisa, historical)

• 小(ちい)さな (chīsa na, “small”)

Kanji in this term 小 しょうGrade: 1 on’yomi

/seu/ → /ɕeu/ → /ɕoː/

From Middle Chinese 小 (MC sjewX).

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

• (Tokyo) しょー [shóꜜò] (Atamadaka – [1])[1][2]
• IPA(key): [ɕo̞ː]

小(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, “month with 30 days or less”)
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

• 大(だい) (dai, “largeness”)

• 小(しょう)の月(つき) (shō no tsuki, month with 30 days or less)

• 大(だい)は小(しょう)を兼(か)ねる (dai wa shō o kaneru, “The greater serves the lesser.”)

• (historical unit):
  • 大(だい) (dai, 200/240 square footsteps)
  • 半(はん) (han, 150/180 square footsteps; about 595.8m2)
  • 小(しょう) (shō, 100/120 square footsteps; about 400m2)

小(しょう) • (shō-) ←せう (seu-)?

1. small, little

小(しょう) • (-shō) ←せう (-seu)?

1. suffix after names of elementary schools 佃(つくだ)小(しょう)tsukuda-shōTsukuda Elementary School

小(しょう) • (Shō) ←せう (Seu)?

1. a surname

Kanji in this term 小 こGrade: 1 kun’yomi

/ko1/ → /ko/

From the Old Japanese stem こ (ko-). Cognate with 子 (ko, “child”).

小(こ) • (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

Kanji in this term 小 おGrade: 1 kun’yomi

/wo/ → /o/

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

小(お) • (o-) ←を (wo-)?

1. attached to certain nouns:
   1. small in shape or scale 小川 (ogawa, “creek”, literally “small river”) 小舟 (obune, “small boat”)
   2. attached to certain names to give expression or feelings (Can we verify(+) this sense?) 小田 (Oda, literally, “small rice paddy”) 小野 (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) 小暗い道 (ogurai michi)

Kanji in this term 小 ささGrade: 1 kun’yomi Alternative spellings 細些些 Kanji in this term 小 さざGrade: 1 kun’yomi Alternative spellings 細些些

From the Old Japanese stem ささ (sasa-), found in terms such as 笹 (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.

小(ささ) or 小(さざ) • (sasa- or saza-)

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

• 栄螺(サザエ) (sazae, “turban shell”)
• 漣(さざなみ) (sazanami, “ripple”)

Kanji in this term 小 さGrade: 1 kun’yomi For pronunciation and definitions of 小 – see the following entry. 【狭さ】S [affix] narrow, small (This term, 小, is an alternative spelling of the above term.)

From Middle Chinese 小 (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) 쇼 (Yale: sywo)

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

小 (eumhun 작을 소 (jageul so))

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

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

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

1. (only before noun) chữ Hán form of tiểu (“small”)