p8nda
p8nda BETA
Home Dictionary Discord

小说

小說
xiǎoshuō
noun HSK 2 #2,478

Measure Word

一本小说 běn

Meanings

  1. 1 novel
  2. 2 fiction

Characters

小
xiǎo
small; minor
说
shuō
to speak; to say
Literally 'small talk' — historically, fiction was considered minor storytelling compared to serious historical writing.

Examples

我喜欢看小说。
Wǒ xǐhuan kàn xiǎoshuō.
I like reading novels.
这本小说很有名。
Zhè běn xiǎoshuō hěn yǒumíng.
This novel is very famous.
他写了一本小说。
Tā xiě le yì běn xiǎoshuō.
He wrote a novel.

Tips

culture
China's Four Great Classical Novels (四大名著) are 《红楼梦》, 《三国演义》, 《水浒传》, and 《西游记》. Every Chinese student reads them.

In Pop Culture

三体 Sān Tǐ
The Three-Body Problem
Liu Cixin's sci-fi novel that won the Hugo Award and became a Netflix series

Stroke Order

小 xiǎo
说 shuō