SHOU chii(sai) (small, little)

ASCII Art Representation:

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Character Etymology:

Commonly but erroneously explained as a person standing with their arms at their side to look small. This error can be attributed to the actual etymology of the character for big, which is of a person holding their hands outstreched trying to look large.

This character is actually a stylized representation of three small points, as is clear from the older version (which sort of looks like ,',). Some scholars feel that this represents one large item being divided into two small ones.

A Listing of All On-Yomi and Kun-Yomi Readings:

on-yomi: SHOU
kun-yomi: chii(sai) ko- o- sa-

Nanori Readings:

Nanori: isara kou saza shao chiisa

English Definitions:

  1. SHOU: smallness; minor; small.
  2. chii(sai), chii(sana), chi(sai): small, little, diminutive, minute, fine, trivial.
  3. ko-: small; shorty; pretty; petty; nearly.
  4. isasa: small.
  5. o-: little; nice, pretty.
  6. shou-: humility prefix; small.
  7. sa-: honorary prefix.

Character Index Numbers:

New Nelson: 1389
Henshall: 36

Unicode Encoded Version:

Unicode Encoded Compound Examples:

小人 (shoujin/kobito): dwarf.
(koyama): hill, mound.
小食 (shoushoku): light eating.
小水 (shousui): urine, unrination (lit: little water).

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