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小子

Mandarin · pinyin xiǎo zǐ#

(literary) youngster
(old) young fellow (term of address used by the older generation)
(old) I, me (used in speaking to one's elders)

Mandarin · pinyin xiǎo zi#

(coll.) boy
(derog.) joker
guy
(despicable) fellow

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Characters in this entry

小: xiǎo · small, tiny, insignificant
子: zǐ · offspring, child; fruit, seed of; first earthly branch

Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

3–3 · xiao3 zi3

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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 · 8 senses · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

siu2 zi2

Cantonese word readings for 小子. 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

(colloquial) boy
(colloquial) bloke; dude; fellow
(dialectal, colloquial) son
servant
Used as a term of contempt for adult males.
Used as an affectionate term for adult males that are not significantly older than the speaker.

noun

(literary) young person

pron

(literary, modest, used before one's elders) I; me

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

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