少 · shǎo
few, less, inadequate
Meanings & readings
Meaning & readings
few, less, inadequate
- Mandarin
- shǎo
- Cantonese
- siu2
Unihan definitions and selected character readings. Read the word to establish its pronunciation in context.
Readings in Japanese, Korean & Vietnamese
Readings recorded for 少 in other language traditions. These are character-level records, not word translations or interchangeable pronunciations.
Japanese 日本語
Grouped by the source’s kana notation; no frequency ranking is implied.
On’yomi · katakana
Kun’yomi · hiragana
Katakana generally indicates on’yomi; hiragana generally indicates kun’yomi. The source does not identify everyday, rare, historical or name use per reading. Kana strings are preserved, including any written endings; consult a Japanese word entry for actual use.
Go deeperJisho ↗Wiktionary ↗
Korean 한국어
Hanja readings · Hangul
Source codes are separated below. They are neither sounds nor tones; a character reading alone does not specify a whole word’s pronunciation.
Go deeperNaver Hanja ↗Wiktionary ↗
Reading sources explained
- 소
- KS X 1001 (0) · Educational Hanja (E)
Vietnamese Tiếng Việt
Character readings · Quốc ngữ
Vietnamese readings associated with this Han character. This field alone does not establish word meanings, current usage, or a complete account of Hán-Nôm reading traditions.
Go deeperHán Việt (Thi Viện) ↗Wiktionary ↗
Form & structure
Writing & identity
- Unicode
- U+5C11
- Radical
- 小 · 42
- Strokes
- 4 · Unihan
- Residual
- 1
Source record · Unihan 17.0. Individual senses and historical claims have not yet been reviewed by zimai.
Stroke order
4 strokesModern stroke order; regional conventions can differ. Stroke medians: Make Me a Hanzi via HanziLookupJS, drawn as an even pen line.
Graphical structure
How to read these symbols
⿰ left–right · ⿱ above–below · ⿻ overlap. Dotted boxes indicate positions, not missing characters. Each symbol describes the components that follow it; nested symbols describe a component in more detail. Source codes identify alternative analyses, not a writing sequence or an etymology.
BabelStone IDS · 2025-06-27. Region tags are preserved; 〾 marks approximation and {n} identifies an unencoded source component. These describe graphical structure, not historical derivation.
Words & connections
Words using 少
Character connections
Follow this component
History & distinctions
Related forms
No simplified/traditional variant property is retained for this record.
Historical readings
- Middle Chinese
- syewX · 書沼 反切 · #1681
- Middle Chinese
- syewH · 失照 反切 · #2783
Guangyun-based transcriptions · PHONO-ML · CC BY 4.0. These describe historical reading categories, not modern word pronunciation.
Source row & reading categories
CSV line 11067 · syewX = 效開三上宵書 · syewH = 效開三去宵書
Automatically generated in the source dataset; the authors checked a subset and acknowledge possible errors. All source readings are retained separately. Notation & method ↗
Sources & reference
Evidence & next depth
Retained Unihan properties
- kMandarin
- shǎo
- kCantonese
- siu2
- kDefinition
- few, less, inadequate
- kTotalStrokes
- 4
- kRSUnicode
- 42.1
- kGradeLevel
- 1
- kTGH
- 2013:110
Readings across dictionaries
- Hanyu Da Zidian
- shào,shǎo 10561.020
- Xiandai Hanyu · 1983
- shǎo 1008.120 · shào 1009.050
- Tongyong Guifan · 2013
- shǎo 327.180 · shào 328.010
- Reading counts · XDHYPLCD
- shǎo(1187) shao(362) shào(323)
- Mandarin / Cantonese · SMSZD
- shǎo粵siu2 shào粵siu3
Reference desk
- Fanqie spellings
- 書沼 失照
- Kangxi positions
- 0296.200
- Guangyun positions
- 297.27 415.01
- GSR references
- 1149e
- Cangjie
- FH
- Four-corner
- 9020.0