How to write 少 (shǎo, “few”)
少, an HSK 1 character, is read shǎo for “few” and “less”, and also shào (“young”). As a top-bottom character it splits into 小 (“small”, the radical), strokes 1–3; 丿 (“slash”), stroke 4, written the top first. On its own it is an HSK 1 word; it also forms 多少 (“how much?”), 少年 (“early youth”) and 少见 (“rare”). Japanese reads it shou, “few”, as a JLPT N4 kanji.
- Pinyin
- shǎo, shào
- Strokes
- 4
- HSK
- 1
- Radical
- 小 (“small”)
Stroke by stroke
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- Vertical hook ㇚topdown and right → downwards
- Left-falling stroke ㇒top leftdownwards
- Dot ㇔top rightdown and right
- Left-falling stroke ㇒rightdownwards → down and left
Japanese and Chinese
Japanese and Chinese draw all 4 strokes in the same order and direction, by our stroke-by-stroke comparison.
Trace it
Follow the numbers. Tracing help
Pinyin and meaning
| Pinyin | Meanings | Traditional | In words |
|---|---|---|---|
| shǎo third tone | few; less; to lack; to be missing; to stop (doing sth) | — | 少见 少数 减少 少量 |
| shào fourth tone | young | — | 少年 少儿 少女 |
- HSK 2025 syllabus
- level 1
- 2021 standard
- level 1
- HSK 2.0
- in a level 1 word
- Words with it
- 97 in CC-CEDICT
Words with 少
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 少 | shǎo | few; less HSK 1 |
| 多少 | duōshao | how much?; how many? HSK 1 |
| 少年 | shàonián | early youth; youngster HSK 4 |
| 少见 少見 | shǎojiàn | rare; seldom seen HSK 4 |
| 少数 少數 | shǎoshù | small number; few HSK 4 |
| 减少 減少 | jiǎnshǎo | to lessen; to decrease HSK 4 |
| 少量 | shǎoliàng | a smidgen; a little bit HSK 4 |
| 缺少 | quēshǎo | lack; shortage of HSK 4 |
| 至少 | zhìshǎo | at least; (to say the) least HSK 4 |
| 少儿 少兒 | shào’ér | child HSK 6 |
HSK words first (CC-CEDICT).
Practice sheet
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Keep going
HSK 1, in list order: