小
小 — Little
little, small
On’yomiショウ (shou)
Kun’yomiちいさい (chiisai)
Kun’yomiこ- (ko)
Kun’yomiお- (o)
Kun’yomiさ- (sa)
Stroke order (3 strokes)
Watch the strokes draw themselves in the correct order — numbers mark where each stroke starts. Diagram from KanjiVG (CC BY-SA).
Common words using 小
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 小選挙区 | しょうせんきょく shousenkyoku | small electoral district; single-member constituency |
| 小学校 | しょうがっこう shougakkou | primary school; elementary school; grade school |
| 小説 | しょうせつ shousetsu | novel; story; (work of) fiction |
| 小学生 | しょうがくせい shougakusei | elementary school student; primary school student; grade school student |
| 中小企業 | ちゅうしょうきぎょう chuushoukigyou | small and medium-sized enterprises; small and medium-sized businesses |
| 小学 | しょうがく shougaku | elementary school; primary school; grade school |
Study notes
小 is a JLPT N5 kanji written with 3 strokes. It is taught in Japanese elementary school (grade 1), so native children learn it early — a good sign it appears everywhere. Ranked #114 of the 2,500 most frequent kanji in newspapers. On’yomi (音読み) are Chinese-derived readings mostly used in compound words; kun’yomi (訓読み) are native Japanese readings, with any highlighted part written in hiragana after the kanji (okurigana).
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