Chinese word

偏小

Pronunciation

Pinyinpiān xiǎo

Meaning

  • adjectivea little small

Example

这件衣服偏小，你要不要换大一号？zhè jiàn yī fú piān xiǎo nǐ yào bú yào huàn dà yí hào

This piece of clothing is a little small. Do you want to exchange it for one size larger?

Illustration for 偏小 (a little small)

More examples

我买的鞋子偏小，穿着很挤。wǒ mǎi de xié zi piān xiǎo chuān zhe hén jǐ

The shoes I bought are a little small and feel very tight.

Core concept

Something falls just to the small side of its expected size rather than being extremely undersized.

Common phrases

  • 衣服偏小yī fú piān xiǎo

    clothes are a little small

  • 鞋子偏小xié zi piān xiǎo

    shoes are a little small

  • 尺码偏小chí mǎ piān xiǎo

    the size is a little small

Similar words

小xiǎo: Having a small overall size.
紧jǐn: Fitting closely with almost no extra room and making movement less easy.
窄zhǎi: Having limited width from one side to the other.

Definition in Chinese

用来形容衣物、鞋子、容器等与常规尺码相比稍显小，强调程度上偏向“小”的状态而非极端不合。yòng lái xíng róng yī wù xié zi róng qì děng yǔ cháng guī chí mǎ xiāng bǐ shāo xiǎn xiǎo qiáng diào chéng dù shàng piān xiàng xiǎo de zhuàng tài ér fēi jí duān bù hé

Word origin

The compound 偏 (piān, "slightly toward") + 小 (xiǎo, "small") presents smallness as a direction or tendency rather than an extreme condition.

Usage tips

  • In everyday shopping talk, 偏小 (piānxiǎo, "a little small") is useful for describing a mild fit problem before deciding whether to change the size.

Other meanings

  • smalladjective

Opposites

Word lists with this word