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小說

简小说 · 繁小說

Mandarin · pinyin xiǎo shuō

novel
fiction
Classifier: 本 běn, 部 bù

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Characters in this entry

小: xiǎo · small, tiny, insignificant
說: shuō · speak, say, talk; scold, upbraid
说: shuō · speak, say, talk; scold, upbraid

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

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Mandarin tones

3–1 · xiao3 shuo1

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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.

小說 · find source passages ↗ · 小说 · find source passages ↗

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Rime Cantonese 粵拼

siu2 syut3

Cantonese word readings for 小說. 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 · Etymology 1

(literature) fiction (including novels, novellas, short stories and flash fiction) (Classifier: 本; 部)
(literary) petty words
(literary) (1st to 18th centuries AD) miscellaneous book (various narrative and didactic texts: the telling of miscellaneous facts, the writing down of strange rumors, and the compilation of gossip)

noun · Etymology 2

(literary) little joy

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

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