HSK 6 · Adjectives

渺小 miǎoxiǎo “tiny” in Chinese

Said as miáoxiǎo

Same in Traditional

What 渺小 means

  1. tiny
  2. insignificant
  3. minute
  4. negligible

How to say 渺小

  • Pitch chart of the third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale渺miǎo3rd tone, dipping
  • Pitch chart of the third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale小xiǎo3rd tone, dipping

Said as miáoxiǎo. When two third tones meet, the first one rises into a second tone. You still write it with two third tones. How tone changes work

渺小 in a sentence

  1. 眼前的景色让齐里感到自身的渺小。

    Yǎnqián de jǐngsè ràng Qílǐ gǎndào zìshēn de miǎoxiǎo.

    The view before him made Ziri feel small and insignificant.

    Sentence #13573145 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters · translation adapted

How 渺小 is built

Each colour is one part of the character. Parts repeat across thousands of characters, so learning them makes new words easier. See all 214 in our radicals chart.

The character 渺 (miǎo) with each of its parts in a different colour
渺miǎovast
  • 氵water form of 水 · shuǐMeaning part
  • 眇blind in one eye · miǎoSound part

氵 hints at the meaning (water); 眇 (miǎo) hints at the sound. Compare it with miǎo.

The character 小 (xiǎo) with each of its parts in a different colour
小xiǎosmall
  • 亅hook · jué
  • 八eight · bā

Memory aidThree small strokes, like grains: small.

How to write 渺小

渺 12 strokes · 小 3 strokes

Watch the order, then press Try writing it and draw each stroke in the grid. Each stroke is checked as you go.

渺小 (miǎoxiǎo) stroke order chart: each stroke of the characters in the order you write them
Stroke order chart for 渺小 (miǎoxiǎo). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.

Words related to 渺小

Words with 小

小xiǎo · small小姐xiǎojiě · miss小学xiǎoxué · elementary school小学生xiǎoxuéshēng · primary school student小朋友xiǎopéngyǒu · child小时xiǎoshí · hour从小cóngxiǎo · from childhood小孩儿xiǎoháir · child小时候xiǎoshíhou · in one’s childhood小心xiǎoxīn · be careful

More words: Adjectives

美满měimǎn · happy美妙měimiào · wonderful猛烈měngliè · fierce勉强miǎnqiǎng · reluctantly名副其实míngfùqíshí · worthy of the name明智míngzhì · wise敏捷mǐnjié · quick敏锐mǐnruì · sharp

FAQs

渺小 (miǎoxiǎo) means “tiny” or “insignificant”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it miǎoxiǎo: miǎo with a 3rd tone, then xiǎo with a 3rd tone. In speech it sounds like miáoxiǎo. When two third tones meet, the first one rises into a second tone. You still write it with two third tones. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 渺小 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type miaoxiao with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 渺小 from the suggestions. Typing miaoxiao into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
渺小 is an HSK 6 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.

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Sources: meaning and pinyin checked by a native Mandarin teacher against the official HSK lists. Extra meanings from CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0). Example sentences from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.