小姐

Mandarin · pinyin xiǎo jie

Meanings

  1. young lady
  2. miss
  3. (slang) prostitute
  4. Classifier: 個 gè, 位 wèi
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Characters in this entry

小
xiǎo · small, tiny, insignificant
姐
jiě · elder sister, young lady
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

3–5 · xiao3 jie5

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Read this spelling in Classical texts

Follow a written form into the eight pinned witnesses: Analects, Mencius, Laozi, Zhuangzi, Xunzi, Han Feizi, Sunzi and the Mao Shijing. A match is a place to investigate; it does not prove that a modern dictionary sense fits the passage.

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 4 senses · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

siu2 ze2

Cantonese word readings for 小姐. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

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Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

noun

  1. Miss (a term of address for a young or unmarried woman)
  2. young lady
  3. young lady of gentry family
  4. (dated or Mainland China slang) prostitute

Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history

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