小

小 U+5C0F, 小 CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-5C0F ← 導 [U+5C0E] CJK Unified Ideographs 尐 → [U+5C10]

⼩ U+2F29, ⼩ KANGXI RADICAL SMALL ← 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)

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

• Appendix:Chinese radical/小
• 𠃝, 仦, 𫭚, 孙, 𢖹, 㭂, 毜, 𥾗, 䚱, 𨈓, 釥, 𢮬, 𬂸, 𩵖, 𪨤, 𢑐, 𢖿, 𣁂, 𥃻, 㕾, 𣅱, 𧈨, 覍, 𧴪, 雀, 𣫶, 𩾟
• 示, 厼, 夵, 糸, 䒕, 𣌢, 京, 亰, 県, 𡱵, 𦯝, 𭐗, 𠩤, 齋(斎), 𨳒(𮤭), 𡆧, 𡶿, 𧵁, 𤸨

• 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, 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.

   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. (Cantonese, minced oath) A euphemism of 屌 (“to fuck”).

   小你！ [Guangzhou Cantonese]  ―  siu² nei⁵! [Jyutping]  ―  Duck you!

小

1. (chiefly Taiwan, vulgar) Alternative form of 潲 (shào, “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–

(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).
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-shō

   Tsukuda 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

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

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.

• 細, 些些

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”)

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.

Wikisource

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”).