少于 (shǎo yú) — be fewer than, be less than

Definition

verb

be fewer thanbe less than

少于。
Wǒ men bān de xué shēng shǎo yú èr shí rén.
There are fewer than twenty students in our class.
少于。
Tā de shōu rù shǎo yú wǒ de gōng zī.
His income is less than my salary.
少于。
Zhè cì kǎo shì shǎo yú yí gè xiǎo shí jiù zuò wán le.
This exam was finished in less than an hour.

Derived word

构词法gòucífǎ

后缀hòuzhuìSuffix

A fixed syllable at the end that turns the word into a noun, a person, a place or the like.

少 (few) and 于 (than) express being less than something.

Characters in this word

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

The form 少 is drawn as four dots, perhaps three grains of sand, to indicate a few or a little.

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

The old shape of 于 may have pictured an ancient wind instrument. Another explanation reads 一 as a flat stream of air and 丂 as an exhaling mark.

Appears in