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Kanji Detail for 少 - "few, little, young"

少

  • Meaning

    少 means "few, little, young."

    1. Few - A small number.

    2. Little - Small in amount.

    3. Young - Not old; being a youth.

    4. Lack - To be deficient.

  • Words using 少

    • 少年 しょうねん Listen boy; juvenile; child
    • 少数 しょうすう Listen small number; few; minority
    • 減少 げんしょう Listen decrease; reduction; decline
    • 多少 たしょう Listen a little; some; somewhat
    • 青少年 せいしょうねん Listen young people; youth; the younger generation
    • 少量 しょうりょう Listen small quantity; small amount; narrowmindedness
    • 最年少 さいねんしょう Listen youngest
    • 希少 きしょう Listen scarce; rare

  • Four-character idioms with 少

    • 少壮気鋭 しょうそうきえい Listen young and energetic; up-and-coming
    • 少数精鋭 しょうすうせいえい Listen elect (select) few
    • 少産少死 しょうさんしょうし Listen low birth rate and low mortality rate
    • 希少価値 きしょうかち Listen scarcity value; rarity value; preciousness
    • 老少不定 ろうしょうふてい Listen death comes to old and young alike; uncertainty of life

  • Tattoo check: 少

    • Verified meaning: few, little, young
    • Official Jōyō kanji — a standard character every Japanese reader recognises

    A single kanji rarely maps one-to-one onto an English word. Read the meanings and associations above as a set — a character that fits the dictionary definition can still carry a connotation you did not intend.

  • Dictionary Citations

    The meaning above is based on the following sources:

    KANJIDIC2 A comprehensive Japanese-English kanji dictionary

    few; little

    Unihan Unicode Han Database for CJK characters

    few, less, inadequate

    CC-CEDICT A Chinese-English dictionary

    few; less; to lack; to be missing; to stop (doing sth); seldom

    Make Me a Hanzi Open-source Chinese character data

    few, little; less; inadequate

    XSZD Xuéshēng Zìdiǎn (學生字典) - Student's Dictionary

    Not many. When this is less than that, it's also 少. Such as 共少若干. Colloquially, losing items is also called 少. Such as 缺少, 短少. | Brief; not long. Such as a short while is called 少頃. | Short. Criticizing someone is called 少之, just as praising is called 多之. | Opposite of old. Such as 少年, 少壯. | Deputy. Such as 太師, 太傅, 太保 have deputies 少師, 少傅, 少保.

  • Onyomi

    tip

    shoh(ショウ) ショウ

  • Kunyomi

    tip

    sukoshi(すこ-し) すこ-し

    suku.nai(すく-ない) すく-ない

  • Strokes

    tip

    4 strokes

  • Radical

    tip

    小 (sho・shogashira・naogashira)

  • Related Keywords

    few little young insufficient lack rare short scarce small slight minor meager sparse limited youth

Sentences including 少

  • A little more to the right , so !

  • We make not a few mistakes when speaking in english.

  • What a kind girl she is !

  • The boy drew a picture on the wall.

  • I met an american girl.

  • Few know the truth of the matter.

  • He is as tall as any boy in his class.

  • I'm sorry. would you mind turning around?

  • A short walk brought me to the museum.

  • I asked the doctor some questions.

Sentences from Japanese classical masterpieces

More kanji with the radical 小 (sho・shogashira・naogashira)

See all kanji with this radical →

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