Chinese symbol for “less”
少
shǎo
few; less; to lack; to be missing
The closest CC-CEDICT match for less is 少 (shǎo), defined as: few; less; to lack; to be missing; to stop (doing sth); seldom.
Before using these characters for a tattoo, check them with a native speaker. Dictionary words often have several meanings, and the right choice depends on context.
Characters and stroke order
Related words
Other words that share a character with 少.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 多少 | duō shǎo | number; amount; somewhat |
| 减少 (減少) | jiǎn shǎo | to lessen; to decrease; to reduce; to lower |
| 至少 | zhì shǎo | at least; (to say the) least |
| 不少 | bù shǎo | many; quite a few; a good number of |
| 少数 (少數) | shǎo shù | small number; few |
Data: CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0); Unihan Database (Unicode License v3); Make Me a Hanzi (Arphic Public License (graphics.txt); LGPL-3.0-or-later (dictionary.txt)); wordfreq (CC BY-SA 4.0 (data)). Retrieved 2026-10-22.