肖 (xiāo) · Xiao (Chinese surname)

Meanings

1 Xiao (Chinese surname)

Characters

肖

xiāo

Xiao (Chinese surname)

Examples

HSK 1

你认识肖老师吗？

Nǐ rènshi Xiāo lǎoshī ma?

Do you know Teacher Xiao?

HSK 2

我们班有两个同学姓肖。

Wǒmen bān yǒu liǎng ge tóngxué xìng Xiāo.

Two students in our class are surnamed Xiao.

Tips

usage

As a surname 肖 is read Xiāo, like 萧, of which it began as a popular shorthand. The 1977 second round of simplification wrote 萧 as 肖, and although that round was withdrawn in 1986 many families kept 肖, so today the two count as separate surnames. In Taiwan the surname is read Xiào.

mistakes

The surname takes the first tone even though "resemble" takes the fourth (生肖, 肖像): 肖战, not Xiào Zhàn.

Components

radical

⺼ ròu

flesh; meat (radical form of 肉)

Bottom flesh radical (the radical form of 肉, visually identical to 月 moon but distinct in meaning) - anchors 肖 to the body/anatomy family alongside 胃 stomach, 肝 liver, 胆 gallbladder. Here it stands for 'the flesh of a child' born from the parent.

semantic

⺌ xiǎo

small (variant of 小 as top)

Top three-stroke small-variant of 小 sits above the flesh radical, giving the picture of 'a small piece of flesh' - a child resembling a parent in miniature form. From this came the verb sense 'to resemble' and the noun sense 'likeness, portrait.' The same top appears in 当, 尚, 党.