Chinese word

缩小

Pronunciation

Pinyinsuō xiǎo

Meaning

  • verbmake smaller

Example

请把桌面图标缩小一些，屏幕看起来更整洁。qǐng bǎ zhuō miàn tú biāo suō xiǎo yì xiē píng mù kàn qǐ lái gèng zhěng jié

Please make the desktop icons a little smaller so the screen looks neater.

Illustration for 缩小 (make smaller)

More examples

公司决定缩小经营规模以降低风险。gōng sī jué dìng suō xiǎo jīng yíng guī mó yǐ jiàng dī fēng xiǎn

The company decided to reduce the scale of its operations to reduce risk.

Core concept

Reduces the size, span, or share of something while keeping it within the same general form.

Common phrases

  • 缩小规模suō xiǎo guī mó

    reduce the scale

  • 缩小差距suō xiǎo chā jù

    narrow the gap

Similar words

减少jián shǎo: Reduce the number, amount, or degree of something.
减小jián xiǎo: Make a numerical value, degree, or scale smaller.
缩短suō duǎn: Make a length, period, or amount of time shorter.
变小biàn xiǎo: Become smaller in size.

Definition in Chinese

把尺寸、比例或范围收窄或变得更小，既可指物理体积也可指抽象范围的缩减。bǎ chǐ cùn bǐ lì huò fàn wéi shōu zhǎi huò biàn de gèng xiǎo jì kě zhǐ wù lǐ tǐ jī yě kě zhǐ chōu xiàng fàn wéi de suō jiǎn

Word origin

The word 缩小 (suōxiǎo, "make smaller") joins 缩 (suō, "contract") with 小 (xiǎo, "small"), making the movement toward reduced size explicit.

Usage tips

  • In everyday Chinese, 把 (bǎ, "object-marking particle") often places the affected object before this verb, a useful pattern for talking about changes to screens, pictures, and spaces.

Other meanings

  • shrinkverb

Opposites

Word lists with this word