少 (shǎo) is a Chinese character meaning “few”. It is written from 小 (small) and 丿 (left-falling stroke), one above the other, and takes 4 strokes. It has a second reading, shào, which turns up in 少年 — here the two readings are two separate things to learn, not one card with two answers.
Build the character for “few”
Four steps: break it apart, build it, recall it, use it in a word.
StartLearn this character
Structure
小 + 丿
Top–bottom structure
Structure from: Unicode U+5C11 and hanzi-writer-data 2.0.1 modern glyph inspection
Memory aid
Start from small (小), then let one long stroke (丿) sweep down across it — small, and then even less of it: few.
This is a memory aid, not the historical origin.
Stroke order
4 strokes
In real words
- 少数shǎo shùa small number; the minority少 = shǎo
- 缺少quē shǎoto lack; to be short of少 = shǎo
- 多少duō shaohow many; how much少 = shǎoHSK 1
- 减少jiǎn shǎoto reduce; to decrease少 = shǎospoken asjián shǎo
Go deeper
All readings
few
few; little; a small amount; to lack; to be missing
数量小；不多。也表示缺、不够。 — studyhanzi 编写
Words with this reading
- 少数shǎo shùa small number; the minority少 = shǎo
- 缺少quē shǎoto lack; to be short of少 = shǎo
- 多少duō shaohow many; how much少 = shǎoHSK 1
- 减少jiǎn shǎoto reduce; to decrease少 = shǎospoken asjián shǎo
young
young; youthful (of age, not of quantity)
年纪轻；指年少的阶段或年少的人。 — studyhanzi 编写
Words with this reading
- 少年shào niányouth; a teenage boy (roughly 10 to 16 years old)少 = shào
Easy to confuse with
Stroke data: hanzi-writer-data (Arphic Public License) · licenses & attributions
Questions people ask about this character
What does 少 mean?
少 (shǎo) means few; little; a small amount; to lack; to be missing.
How do you pronounce 少?
Its main reading is shǎo. It also has a second reading, shào, which only shows up in certain words such as 少年 — so the word tells you the reading, not the character on its own.
Why is 少 sometimes pronounced shào?
Because it is a multi-reading character: each reading carries a different sense, and the word decides which one applies. In 少年 it is read shào.
What parts is 少 made of?
小 (small) and 丿 (left-falling stroke), one above the other. The recorded source is: Unicode U+5C11 and hanzi-writer-data 2.0.1 modern glyph inspection. Components are the building blocks of the shape; the radical used for dictionary lookup is a separate thing.
How many strokes does 少 have?
4. You can watch the stroke order on this page, or trace it yourself.
What is the radical of 少?
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 少?
Common ones are 少数 and 缺少. The reading of 少 is not the same in every word, so each word on this page shows which reading applies.