小しょう

noun

short month; month with fewer than 31 days

Abbreviation mainly used in the fixed expression 小の月, contrasted with 大の月 for months with 31 days.

See also: 小の月

• 二に月がつは小しょうの月つきなので、三さん十じゅう一いち日にちはない。

  February is a short month, so it has no thirty-first day.

noun, noun, used as a prefix

elementary school; primary school

Abbreviation of 小学校, common in compact labels and combinations such as 小・中, 小学生, and school-grade notation.

See also: 小学校

• この大たい会かいは小しょう・中ちゅう学がく生せいが対たい象しょうです。

  This tournament is for elementary and middle school students.

noun, used as a prefix

lesser; minor; lower-ranking counterpart

Prefix used to distinguish the smaller, lesser, or sometimes inferior member of a pair or set with the same name, often in proper names or classifications and often contrasted with 大.

• 大だいアンティル諸しょ島とうと小しょうアンティル諸しょ島とうを地ち図ずで確かく認にんした。

  I checked the Greater Antilles and the Lesser Antilles on a map.

noun, used as a prefix

the younger; junior

Prefix before a personal or family name to identify the younger of two people with the same name, especially in translated or historical names.

• 小しょうデュマは『椿つばき姫ひめ』の作さく者しゃとして知しられる。

  The younger Dumas is known as the author of La Dame aux Camélias.

noun

old unit of field area; about 400 square meters

Archaic noun sense for a unit of field area. This is a historical or documentary use, not a modern everyday measurement term.

• 古ふるい土と地ちの記き録ろくでは、「小しょう」が約やく四よん百ひゃく平へい方ほうメートルの面めん積せきを表あらわすことがある。

  In old land records, shō can denote an area of about 400 square meters.