little, small
Came from Chinese. It usually shows up when the kanji is joined to another, forming a compound word.
It is Japanese. It usually shows up when the kanji stands alone or is followed by hiragana.
The order matters: it is what makes handwriting come out legible, and it is how dictionaries index the character.
Visual decomposition, for recognising and comparing — not always the character's origin.
Where it appears is highlighted — the translation doesn't always make that visible.
隣の同僚が、小さい声で言いました。
Tonari no douryou ga, chiisai koe de iimashita.
The coworker next to him spoke quietly.
道すがら、ケンタは今覚えたばかりのことを小声で繰り返していました。
Michisugara, Kenta wa ima oboeta bakari no koto o kogoe de kurikaeshite imashita.
Along the way, Kenta quietly repeated what he'd just learned.
小柄で、白髪で、青いコートを着てます。
Kogara de, shiraga de, aoi kooto o kitemasu.
She's short, has white hair, and wears a blue coat.
Readings and meanings: KANJIDIC2 · Decomposition: KRADFILE · Both from Electronic Dictionary Research and Development Group, CC BY-SA 4.0 · data from 2026-10-22 · Strokes: KanjiVG, Ulrich Apel, CC BY-SA 3.0