小 (xiǎo) is a Chinese character meaning “small”. It takes 3 strokes.
Learn this character
Structure
小
Single unit
- 小 small · xiǎo unknown
Structure from: Unicode U+5C0F and hanzi-writer-data 2.0.1 modern glyph inspection
Memory aid
A short central stroke with two small strokes beside it suggests something small (小).
This is a memory aid, not the historical origin.
Stroke order
3 strokes
In real words
- 大小dà xiǎosize小 = xiǎo
- 小刀xiǎo dāosmall knife; pocketknife小 = xiǎo
Go deeper
All readings
small
small; little; young
体积、数量或程度不大；也可表示年幼。 — studyhanzi 编写
Words with this reading
- 大小dà xiǎosize小 = xiǎo
- 小刀xiǎo dāosmall knife; pocketknife小 = xiǎo
Easy to confuse with
Stroke data: hanzi-writer-data (Arphic Public License) · licenses & attributions
Questions people ask about this character
What does 小 mean?
小 (xiǎo) means small; little; young.
How do you pronounce 小?
It is pronounced xiǎo.
How many strokes does 小 have?
3. You can watch the stroke order on this page, or trace it yourself.
What is the radical of 小?
小. The radical is how the character is filed in a dictionary — it is not the whole story of how the character is built.
What words use 小?
Common ones are 大小. The reading of 小 is not the same in every word, so each word on this page shows which reading applies.