Xiǎo Qiáo

Xiao Qiao

xiǎo small

Depicts three small dots, representing the meaning "small". Originally the same character as . The small dots possibly represent grains of sand ().

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Meaning (3 of 8 verified)

Sound (1 of 2 verified)

Iconic (2)

Simplified (1)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartsjewX[s]ewʔ small

說文解字

《說文》:“小,物之微也。从八,丨見而分之。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.79漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica

qiáo, jiǎo tall Simplified

Simplified form of . Originally written the same as (tall). The top part of the character was altered to distinguish from .

Components

characterless component
gāo high

Strokes were removed during simplification.

Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to than it was in ancient scripts.

Component uses

Sound (2 of 10 verified)

Meaning (1 of 4 verified)

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode

tall Traditional

Originally written the same as (tall). The top part of the character was altered to distinguish from .

Components

characterless component
SoundMeaning component
gāo high

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (2 of 8 verified)

Meaning (1 of 3 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartgjew[N-k](r)aw high, tall

說文解字

《說文》:“喬,高而曲也。从夭,从高省。《詩》曰:‘南有喬木。’”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica