Words for "Small" In Chinese 漢語中的"小"詞

Adjectives:

小 small, little, tiny, young, few, tabloid

少 small, young

微小 small, little

細小 small, tiny, little, petty, trivial, trifling

小號 small

薄 thin, light, small, weak, infertile, poor

蕞 small, bitty, miniature, wee, piccaninny, pickaninny

區 small

蠅頭 teeny, tiny, small, microscopic, little, insignificant

戔 constricted, stuffy, small, narrow, confined

輇 shallow, superficial, small

芮 small

謏 diminutive, insignificant, limited, negligible, slight, small

裨 beneficial, advantageous, profitable, minor, secondary, small

藐 slight, small

怍 ashamed, hangdog, abashed, small

嘒 sparse, rare, small, thin

芾 small

蕞爾 bitty, miniature, piccaninny, pickaninny, small, wee

么 small

小 means small, little, minor. It is used in a wide array of contexts.

这只狗很小。 zhè zhǐ gǒu hěn xiǎo  This dog is small.

在我的小的时候  zài wǒ de xiǎo de shíhòu  when I was small (young) 

这个机会是很小的。 zhè ge jī huì shì hěn xiǎo de  This opportunity is small.

Another popular way of describing something small is by negating the opposite. You can just say that the object is not big (不大).

不大的狗  bú dà de gǒu  small dog 

不大的机会  bú dà de jī huì  small opportunity, little chance

Interesting Synonyms of 小 :

微小 and 细小 both mean "tiny", "extremely small".

微小的尘埃  wéixiǎo de chén'āi  tiny dust 

一个很微小的改变  yīgè hěn wéixiǎo de gǎibiàn  very slight change 

细小的杯子  xìxiǎo de bēizi  small cup 

细小 may also stand for "trivial", "not very important" 

细小的问题  xì xiǎo de wèn tí  minor problem 

The meaning of 细微 is "tiny", "subtle". It is very close to that of 微小 and 细小. 

细微的变化  xì wēi de biàn huà  subtle changes 

纤毫 means "slight", "tiny", "very detailed" 

纤毫的差错  xiān háo de chā cuò  slight error

Idioms:

蝇头- yíng tóu  small, tiny (as a fly’s head) 

蝇头小利 - yíng tóu xiǎo lì  very small profit 

微乎其微  wēi hū qí wēi  almost negligible, next to nothing 

粒子的总体积是微乎其微的。  lì zǐ de zǒng tǐ jī shì wēi hū qí wēi de - The volume of the particles is negligible.