小 – little, small

3 strokesTaught in grade 1#114 in newspaper frequencyN5 vocabulary

The kanji 小 means little, small. Its on’yomi (Chinese-derived reading) is ショウ (shou); its kun’yomi (native Japanese reading) is ちい.さい、こ-、お-、さ- (chiisai, ko, o, sa). It is written with 3 strokes, under radical 小 (no. 42).

Stroke order

Stroke order from KanjiVG. Practise others with the stroke order lookup.

Readings

Type	Reading	Romaji
On’yomi	ショウ	shou
Kun’yomi	ちい.さい	chiisai
Kun’yomi	こ-	ko
Kun’yomi	お-	o
Kun’yomi	さ-	sa

A dot separates the kanji’s part from the okurigana (kana written after it), e.g. まな.ぶ → 学ぶ.

Radical and components

Radical: 小 (Kangxi radical 42).

Words using 小

小さいちいさいsmall小さなちいさなsmall小説しょうせつnovel小鳥ことりsmall bird小学校しょうがっこうprimary school小しょうsmallness小包こづつみparcel小麦こむぎwheat小屋こやhut小銭こぜにsmall change小こsmall小指こゆびlittle finger縮小しゅくしょうreduction小数しょうすうfraction (part of)小便しょうべんurine大小だいしょうsize小遣いこづかいpocket money小学生しょうがくせいelementary school student小父さんおじさんuncle小母さんおばさんold lady小売こうりretail小柄こがらsmall build小切手こぎってcheque小児科しょうにかpediatrics

Example sentences

その机はメグには小さすぎる。

The desk is too small for Meg.

Tatoeba #211564

その犬は小さな男の子に向かって唸った。

The dog growled at a little boy.

Tatoeba #210970

事実は小説よりも奇なり。

Fact is stranger than fiction.

Tatoeba #150801

Kanji with the same radical

少尚尖

Sources: KANJIDIC2 (EDRDG, CC BY-SA 4.0), KanjiVG (CC BY-SA 3.0), Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). About the data.