Depicts four dots, representing the meaning "few". Originally the same character as 小. The small dots possibly represent grains of sand (沙).
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | syewX | [s.t]ewʔ | few |
| syewH | [s-t]ewʔ-s | young |
說文解字
《說文》：“少，不多也。从小，丿聲。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 漢語多功能字庫季旭昇《說文新證》p.79
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)
Depicts a woman sitting or squatting down.
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | nrjoX | nraʔ | female |
| nrjoH | nraʔ-s | give as a wife |
說文解字
《說文》：“女，婦人也。象形。王育說。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 季旭昇《說文新證》p.848
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)