少 (shǎo): few

Meanings

1 few
2 less
3 to lack
4 to be missing
5 to stop doing something
6 seldom

Characters

少

shǎo

few; less

Examples

HSK 1

这里人很少。

Zhèlǐ rén hěn shǎo.

There are very few people here.

HSK 1

少说话，多做事。

Shǎo shuōhuà, duō zuòshì.

Talk less, do more.

HSK 1

钱包里少了一百块。

Qiánbāo lǐ shǎo le yì bǎi kuài.

A hundred yuan is missing from the wallet.

Tips

grammar

Before a verb, 少 means 'do less of' or 'stop doing': 少说话 (talk less), 少喝酒 (drink less alcohol), 少管闲事 (stop minding others' business).

mistakes

Two readings: 少 (few/less, HSK 1) vs 少 (young, as in 少年). Same shape, different word - context picks. Quantity sense = third tone; age sense = fourth tone.

Components

radical

小 xiǎo

small

The 'small' base - three short strokes around a central vertical. Provides the semantic anchor: small quantity, reduced amount.

ideograph

丿 piě

diminishing slash

Extra slash cutting across 小 - pushes 'small' further down to 'fewer / less'. Visual logic: more slashes shaved off = more reduction. The same character with this fourth stroke also reads 少 ('young') - the meanings split historically from a shared 'diminished / small one' core.