肖

mostly supplies the sound xiāo/qiào/shāo · Character component

mostly supplies the sound xiāo/qiào/shāo, with a background sense of small, whittled-down pieces and of one thing resembling another

肖 is built from 小 "small" sitting above 月, the squashed form of 肉 "flesh" — the same 月 you see in 肝, 肩 and 胖. The picture is flesh cut small, slivers pared off a larger body, and from a child being a small piece of the same flesh as its parent comes the meaning "to resemble". In modern characters 肖 rarely carries that meaning itself and instead marks pronunciation, as in 消, 稍, 哨 and 鞘, though the idea of shaving something down survives in 削 "to peel with a knife" and 消 "to diminish".

肖 at a glance

Meaning

mostly supplies the sound xiāo/qiào/shāo

Strokes

7

Characters

25

Role

Contributes sound

Characters with 肖 (22 of 25)

Frequently asked questions