小
small; young; little
xiǎo
What does 小 mean?
小 (xiǎo) is the adjective 'small,' the opposite of 大 (dà, 'big'). It covers physical size (小猫 'small cat,' 小房子 'small house'), age in the sense of 'young' (他比我小 'he's younger than me'), and works as a prefix for nicknames and affectionate forms (小李 'Little Li / young Mr. Li'). Two things English speakers should know: first, 小 + surname is a very common informal way to address younger colleagues or friends — 小王, 小张 — roughly 'young Wang / Zhang'; flipping it with 老 + surname (老王 'old Wang') addresses older or familiar people respectfully; second, 小 is not the same as 少 — 小 is about SIZE, while 少 (shǎo) is about QUANTITY. 'A small amount' uses 少, not 小. 小心 (xiǎoxīn, 'careful,' literally 'small heart') is one of the most useful 小-compounds.
Character breakdown
small; little (three small strokes, pictograph of grains of sand or tiny particles)
Memory hook: 小 is three little strokes — three tiny things, meaning 'small.'
Example sentences
我有一只小猫。
Wǒ yǒu yī zhī xiǎo māo.
I have a small cat.
neutral
这个房子很小。
Zhège fángzi hěn xiǎo.
This house is very small.
neutral
他比我小三岁。
Tā bǐ wǒ xiǎo sān suì.
He's three years younger than me.
neutral
小心！
Xiǎoxīn!
Be careful!
spoken
Common phrases with 小
Hear it in real Fluentide episodes
小 appears in 1 podcast episode at natural native speed, with full Chinese script, pinyin, and line-by-line English translation.
Don't confuse 小 with
小 = small in SIZE. 少 = few in QUANTITY. 小猫 'small cat' vs 猫少 'few cats.' The characters look alike (one extra stroke on 少), and beginners constantly confuse them. Remember: 小 is for one thing's size, 少 is for how many things there are.
校 ('school,' as in 学校) contains 小-like elements but is a completely different character. The 木 (tree) radical on the left distinguishes it.