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少之又少

Mandarin · pinyin shǎo zhī yòu shǎo

very few; very little

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Characters in this entry

少: shǎo · few, less, inadequate
之: zhī · marks preceding phrase as modifier of following phrase; it, him her, them; go to
又: yòu · and, also, again, in addition

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

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Mandarin tones

3–1–4–3 · shao3 zhi1 you4 shao3

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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 · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

siu2 zi1 jau6 siu2

Cantonese word readings for 少之又少. 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.

phrase

(idiomatic) very few; few and far between

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

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