Pinyin "xiao3"

In MandarinBanana's mnemonic system, the Pinyin syllable "xiao3" is split up into two parts: "xi" and "ao3". You can visit the Pinyin index to see how other Pinyin syllables are split up into initials and finals.

Mnemonics for Pinyin initial "xi"

Xi is for Marie Curie.
Alternative mnemonic for xi: Xi Shi (西施), one of the renowned Four Beauties of ancient China.

Mnemonics for Pinyin final "ao3"

In the aorta's living room.

Characters pronounced xiao3

small / tiny / few / young

= + : Mnemonic symbol: a small daisy. 小 looks like the stem 亅 of the flower is pushing aside the earth 八 as it grows out of the seed in the ground.

Xi Shi (xi) is decorating her hair with lots of small (小) daisies (mnemonic symbol for 小) in the aorta's living room (ao3). She wants to have lots of daisies in the future as well, so she plants new daisies. She found that the perfect substrate for planting daisies is made by crushing eight-balls (八) with a crow bar (亅).
dawn / daybreak / to know / to let sb know / to make explicit

= + : At dawn (晓), Marie Curie (xi) and the sun (日) meet Tang Yao (尧) in the aorta (ao3). They let him know (晓) that they have been a couple for a long time and plan to marry, but Tang Yao explains that he already knows (晓).
dwarf bamboo
dwarf bamboo / thin bamboo
Japanese variant of 曉|晓
small