DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

小說家

简小说家 · 繁小說家

Mandarin · pinyin xiǎo shuō jiā#

novelist

Mandarin · pinyin Xiǎo shuō jiā#

School of Minor-talks, one of the Hundred Schools of Thought 諸子百家 zhū zǐ bǎi jiā during the Warring States Period (475-221 BC)

Full entryShow on map

Characters in this entry

小: xiǎo · small, tiny, insignificant
說: shuō · speak, say, talk; scold, upbraid
家: jiā · house, home, residence; family
说: shuō · speak, say, talk; scold, upbraid

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

Explore the spelling

Mandarin tones

3–1–1 · xiao3 shuo1 jia1

Compare attested words with these syllables ↗

Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.

Connected dictionary

4character links1same-tone record

Explore word families ↗Compare pronunciations ↗Open character structure ↗

Counts describe dictionary records, not word frequency or semantic similarity. Source identities stay separate.

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.

小說家 · find source passages ↗ · 小说家 · find source passages ↗

Explore Classical grammar ↗

Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 2 senses

Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

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

noun

novelist
(obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese) the School of Small Talks among the Hundred Schools of Thought

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

Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source & license · Data pack