少 (shǎo)
Few; little; less; to lack
How 少 is written
- Strokes
- 4
- Radical
- 小 — small
- Traditional
- 少
- Simplified
- 少 (unchanged)
Components
- 小 small
- 丿 bend
少 has 2 readings
The pronunciation changes with the meaning, so the reading has to be learned per word.
- shǎo
- few; little; lack
- shào
- young
Common words using 少
- 多少 duōshǎo
- number; amount; somewhat
- 不少 bùshǎo
- many; a lot; not few
- 少女 shàonǚ
- maiden
- 少年 shàonián
- youngster; juvenile
- 少數 shǎoshù
- small number; few; minority
- 少林寺 shàolínsì
- Buddhist monastery famous for its kungfu monks
- 少爺 shàoye
- son of the boss; young master of the house; your son (honorary)
- 少許 shǎoxǔ
- a little; a few
- 少量 shǎoliàng
- a smidgen; a little bit; a few
- 年少 niánshào
- young; junior
- 減少 jiǎnshǎo
- to lessen; to decrease; to reduce
- 缺少 quēshǎo
- lack; shortage of; shortfall
少 in a sentence
最近客人很少，生意不太好。
Zuìjìn kèrén hěn shǎo, shēngyì bù tài hǎo.
“There have been very few customers recently; business isn't very good.”
How common is 少?
少 is the 233rd most frequent character in written Chinese. Characters up to this rank account for about 59% of all running text.
Characters that appear with 少
Master 少 and 5,000 others.
Flashcards and Writing Practice. Every single character in A Course in Contemporary Chinese 當代中文課程.
少
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