字の旅3,000 years in four forms
Oracle bone · ShangShang · c. 1200 BCE甲630 (商)
Oracle bone, bronze and small seal: Academia Sinica 小學堂, CC0. Today’s form: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0.
部首Radical · in States & Attributes
小
小 small
しょう shou
3 strokesRadical of 3 kanjiPart of 11
Your ink in 小0% painted · 0 of 3 familiar
Origin · sourced
Ideogrammic compound會意
Built from 八 “to divide; to separate” + 丨 “small object”
Source: Wiktionary, 小 (rev. 93813458), CC BY-SA 4.0
Memory story · made up to help you remember
“Think small! Imagine three tiny pebbles sitting in the palm of your hand. This radical represents the essence of detail, miniaturization, and the humble beginnings of all things. When you see it, think of "little" amounts, "small" objects, and the subtle precision of being focused on the tiny details.”
Where it sits in a kanji
Indicates smallness, a minimal quantity, youth (a "small" person), detail, or a state of being compact or subtle.
育つ
What it grows into
Built from 小, with sourced origins
- 少fewショウ · すくない
小 becomes 少
Four dots, perhaps three grains of sand (see 沙), to indicate "a few, a little". Phonetically borrowed from 小 (“small”), which is depicted by three dots.
Pictogram · Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0
一覧
Every kanji with 小 as its radical
Most used first
Ink shades, lightest to darkest: 白 Not met, 淡 Met, 中 Learning, 濃 Familiar, 印 Mastered
All 3 kanji