Example sentences
zhè这xié鞋tài太xiǎo小。
These shoes are too small.
tā他xiǎo小shí时hòu候hěn很guāi乖。
He was well-behaved as a kid.
The story behind the character
小
Three dots, like grains of sand. No story here. It just means tiny. Xu Shen wrote 小, 物之微也: "small, the slightness of things." Small enough to be a few specks.