小三元

Chinese

		small; tiny; few small; tiny; few; young	three	primary; first; fundamental primary; first; fundamental; dollar; (dynasty)
simp. and trad. (小三元)		小	三	元
Literally: “little three fundamentals”.

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): xiǎosānyuán

  (Zhuyin): ㄒㄧㄠˇ ㄙㄢ ㄩㄢˊ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): siu² saam¹ jyun⁴

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: xiǎosānyuán
    • Zhuyin: ㄒㄧㄠˇ ㄙㄢ ㄩㄢˊ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: siǎosanyuán
    • Wade–Giles: hsiao³-san¹-yüan²
    • Yale: syǎu-sān-ywán
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: sheausanyuan
    • Palladius: сяосаньюань (sjaosanʹjuanʹ)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /ɕi̯ɑʊ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹ sän⁵⁵ ɥɛn³⁵/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: siu² saam¹ jyun⁴
    • Yale: síu sāam yùhn
    • Cantonese Pinyin: siu² saam¹ jyn⁴
    • Guangdong Romanization: xiu² sam¹ yun⁴
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /siːu̯³⁵ saːm⁵⁵ jyːn²¹/

Noun

小三元

1. (mahjong) a winning hand with melds of two dragon tiles and a pair of the third dragon tile

Descendants

• → Japanese: 小三元 (shōsangen)

Japanese

Etymology

Kanji in this term
小	三	元
しょう Grade: 1	さん Grade: 1	げん Grade: 2
on’yomi		kan’on

Orthographic borrowing from Chinese 小三元 (xiǎosānyuán).

Can be analyzed as derived from 小 (shō-, “little, small”) +‎ 三元 (sangen, clipping of 三元牌 (sangenpai), “dragon tiles”).

Pronunciation

(Can we verify⁽⁺⁾ this pronunciation?)

• (Tokyo) しょーさ​んげん [shòósáꜜǹgèǹ] (Nakadaka – [3])
• IPA^(key): [ɕo̞ːsã̠ŋɡẽ̞ɴ]

Noun

小(しょう)三(さん)元(げん) • (shōsangen) 

1. (mahjong) a 役 (yaku, “hand”) with melds of two dragon tiles and a pair of the third, worth 2 翻 (han, “doubles”); along with an additional 2 翻 (han) from the 役牌 (yakuhai, “honour meld”) of said two dragon tiles, a combined total of 4 翻 (han)

See also

• 大(だい)三(さん)元(げん) (daisangen)