小

小	Meanings: small, little On Readings: ショウ shou Kun Readings: ちい（さい） chi(sai), こ ko, お o Most Used Pronunciation: chii(sai) JLPT Level: 4 (see all JLPT 4 kanji) Grade: 1 Kanji Part: 小 Stroke Number: 3

Level 4 Completion 53 / 103

Common jukugo
小学校 - しょう　がっこう shou gakkou - elementary school
小説 - しょう　せつ shou setsu - novel, story
小川 - お　がわ o gawa - stream, brook
小康 - しょう　こう shou kou - lull, respite, breathing space (of peace)

Useful Examples
Japanese: 蟻は象より小さいです。
Romaji: ari wa zou yori chiisai desu.
English: An ant is smaller than an elephant.

Japanese: すみませんがラジオの音を小さくしてくれませんか。
Romaji: sumimasen ga rajio no oto o chiisaku shite kuremasenka.
English: Would you mind turning down the radio?

Japanese: 弟は小学校へ通っています。
Romaji: otouto wa shougakkou e kayotte imasu.
English: My little brother goes to an elementary school.

Japanese: ほら！あの木に小鳥がいる。
Romaji: hora ! ano ki ni kotori ga iru.
English: Look! There's a little bird in that tree.

Japanese: 野原の間に１本の小道があります。
Romaji: nohara no aida ni ippon no komichi ga arimasu.
English: There is a path through the fields.

Japanese: その池は小さな魚でいっぱいだった。
Romaji: sono ike wa chiisa na sakana de ippai datta.
English: The pond was alive with tiny fishes.

Japanese: 羽がひどくけがをしている小鳥を見つけました。
Romaji: hane ga hidokuke ga o shite iru kotori o mitsukemashita.
English: I found a bird whose wing was severely damaged.

Japanese: そのぬかるみの小道は谷へ下って行く。
Romaji: sono nukarumi no komichi wa tani e kudatte iku.
English: The muddy track descends to a valley.

Japanese: その小説の初刷は１００００部だった。
Romaji: sono shousetsu no shosatsu wa 10000 bu datta.
English: The novel had an initial print-run of 10,000.

Japanese: もとは手当たり次第に小説を読んだものだ。
Romaji: moto wa teatari shidai ni shousetsu o yonda mono da.
English: I used to read novels at random.

Look alike kanji
少

Notes/Mnemonic
Only 3 small strokes make this kanji

Many example sentences are from the Tanaka Corpus as modified for use with WWWJDIC.