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小儿科 (xiǎo ér kē) — (medicine) pediatrics; trivial matter, something insignificant; kid's stuff; childish, naive; (colloquial) petty, stingy

Definition

Literally 'pediatrics,' but figuratively means something trivial or childish — calling something 小儿科 dismisses it as kid's stuff. Often used as a predicate after 太 to scold ('太小儿科了').

noun
(medicine) pediatricstrivial mattersomething insignificantkid's stuffchildishnaive(colloquial) pettystingy

Examples

  • 。
    Tā zài yī yuàn de xiǎo ér kē gōng zuò.
    He works in the pediatrics department of the hospital.
  • 小儿科。
    Zhè diǎn kùn nan duì yú tā lái shuō zhǐ shì xiǎo ér kē.
    This little difficulty is just kid's stuff for him.
  • ，小儿科。
    Wèi le jǐ kuài qián chǎo chéng zhè yàng, yě tài xiǎo ér kē le.
    Fighting like this over a few dollars is really childish.

Origin

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.

小儿small child
小xiǎosmall儿érchild
偏正Modifier + head
科kēdepartment

小 and 儿 mean small child, and 科 is a department; together they name pediatrics.

Characters in this word

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

  • 八八bāto divide; to separate
  • 丨丨gǔnsmall object

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.

Open 小 →

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

The shape 儿 is a simple drawing of a standing person, used as an alternate form of the character for person.

Open 儿 →

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
斗斗dòumeasuring tool
Sound part声符shēngfú
禾
禾hé科kē
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

科 pairs 禾, which gives the hé sound, with 斗, a measuring tool.

Open 科 →
Appears in
Hospital & Clinic

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