小修 (xiǎo xiū) — minor repair; temporary fix

Definition

A small, quick repair — less involved than a full overhaul (大修). Often a temporary stopgap before a more thorough fix.

noun

minor repairtemporary fix

小修。
Zhè tái jī qì zhī xū yào yí cì xiǎo xiū jiù néng huī fù zhèng cháng.
This machine only needs one minor repair to return to normal.
小修。
Wū dǐng de xiǎo xiū huā le liǎng gè xiǎo shí jiù wán chéng le.
The temporary repair on the roof took only two hours to complete.
小修，。
Tā men xiān zuò xiǎo xiū, děng cái liào dào hòu zài chè dǐ fān xīn.
They'll do a minor repair first, then do a full renovation when the materials arrive.

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

小 marks something minor, and 修 means repair; the word describes a small or temporary fix.

Characters in this word

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

The shape of 小 comes from three small dots, later elongated into its strokes; the apparent parts 八 and 丨 are a later way of seeing it.

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

Meaning part形符xíngfú

彡彡shān

Sound part声符shēngfú

攸

The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

修 is built from 攸, which gives the sound, and 彡, a set of three strokes that shows the meaning.