Language/Mandarin-chinese/Vocabulary/小-xiǎo

小 (xiǎo) small

Today, we will learn the Chinese character 小 (xiǎo) which means "small".

It's the opposite of “dà” (大).

You can remember this character easily if you can show people how small your body is by lowering your hands and dropping your shoulders.

Xīn (心) is "heart" and "xiǎo xīn" (small heart) means "be careful".

beginner

• 小心 (xiǎo xīn) : be careful
• 小姐 (xiǎo jie) : young lady, miss
• 小小 (xiǎo xiǎo) : very small
• 大大小小 (dà dà xiǎo xiǎo) : large and small, of all sizes
• 小时 (xiǎoshí) : hour
• 小儿 (xiǎo’ér) : son
• 小二 (xiǎo’èr) : waiter
• 小刀 (xiǎodāo) : knife
• 小猫 (xiǎo māo) : kitten

intermediate

• 小吃 (xiǎo chī) : snack, refreshments
• 小伙子 (xiǎo huǒzi) : young man, young guy

advanced

• 小说 (xiǎo shuō) : novel
• 胆小鬼 (dǎn xiǎo guǐ) : coward
• 小麦 (xiǎo mài) : wheat

Sentences

小猫在哪里？(xiǎo māo zài nǎ lǐ?) : Where is the kitten?