很少

Chinese

		very; rather; quite	young; few; little young; few; little; lack
simp. and trad. (很少)		很	少
Literally: “very few”.

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): hěnshǎo

  (Zhuyin): ㄏㄣˇ ㄕㄠˇ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): han² siu²

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: hěnshǎo [Phonetic: hénshǎo]
    • Zhuyin: ㄏㄣˇ ㄕㄠˇ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: hěnshǎo
    • Wade–Giles: hên³-shao³
    • Yale: hěn-shǎu
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: heenshao
    • Palladius: хэньшао (xɛnʹšao)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /xən²¹⁴⁻³⁵ ʂɑʊ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: han² siu²
    • Yale: hán síu
    • Cantonese Pinyin: han² siu²
    • Guangdong Romanization: hen² xiu²
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /hɐn³⁵ siːu̯³⁵/

Adverb

很少

1. seldom; rarely

Usage notes

Few Chinese dictionaries have an entry for this word because it is seen as too obvious a compound of its parts from a Chinese perspective, though it is more opaque from the perspective of speakers of other languages such as English.

Synonyms

• (literary) 鮮少／鲜少 (xiǎnshǎo)
• (Cantonese) 好少

See also

• 不常 (bùcháng)
• 罕見／罕见 (hǎnjiàn)
• 難得／难得 (nándé)