Mnemonic comic for

Translation

shǎo = sh + ao3: few / less / to lack / to be missing / to stop (doing sth) / seldom

Mnemonic

A mnemonic is a short, deliberately ridiculous scene, built to be hard to forget. Who appears in it and where it takes place are how the pronunciation is stored; the objects in it stand for the parts the character is written with. That is the Marilyn Method, and the comic below is the same scene, drawn.

Mnemonic symbol: 少 looks like a smiley face.

There’s a food shortage (少) in the aorta, and Sherlock Holmes (sh) and Smiley (少) are looking for food in the living room (ao3). There’s only one banana (丿) left. Soon they’ll have to eat the many daisies (小) which are growing there.

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All translations for 少

shǎo = sh + ao3
few / less / to lack / to be missing / to stop (doing sth) / seldom
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shào = sh + ao4
young
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How to pronounce 少

MandarinBanana teaches pronunciation with the Marilyn Method: every Pinyin syllable is one initial plus one final, the initial becomes a person, an animal or a deity, and the final becomes a place in your memory palace — with the tone deciding which part of that place the scene happens in. Remember the little story below for each half and the whole syllable comes back with them.

= sh initial

Sh is for Sherlock Holmes.

By Matthias • updated 2 months ago
+ ao3 final

In the aorta’s living room.

By Matthias • updated 6 months ago
= sh initial

Sh is for Sherlock Holmes.

By Matthias • updated 2 months ago
+ ao4 final

In the aorta’s bathroom.

By Matthias • updated 6 months ago

少 character breakdown

Chinese characters are built out of smaller characters. Each component carries a mnemonic symbol - one concrete object that stands in for it - and a mnemonic story hands those objects to the person and the place that stand for the pronunciation. Learn a component once and every character that reuses it gets easier.

Component Translations
丿
piě = pi + e3
radical in Chinese characters (Kangxi radical 4) / see 撇[pie3]
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xiǎo = xi + ao3
small / tiny / few / young
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Characters with 少 as component

xǐng = xi + (e)ng3
to inspect / to examine / to be aware / to pay a visit (to one's parents or elders)
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to save / to economize / to do without / to omit / to leave out / province / (archaic) central government department
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chǎo = ch + ao3
to quarrel / to make a noise / noisy / to disturb by making a noise
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Words with 少

show 118 more
number / amount / somewhat
how much? / how many? / (phone number, student ID etc) what number?
at least / (to say the) least
Sentences with 少
zhǐ
yīn
shǒu
zhōng
quē
shǎo
chèn
shǒu
de
bīng

Want to remember 少 for good?

Make it your learning target and MandarinBanana works out the shortest route to it: the two sounds its syllable is built from, then the components of the character itself, one short step at a time. No account needed to start.

shǎo / shào

2 translations

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