noun, noun, used as a prefix
smallness; small item; small scale
Sino-Japanese noun or prefix read しょう, used for small size, a small category, or small scale. For everyday predicative 'small', 小さい is normally used instead.
大は小を兼ねる。
The large can serve for the small.
この店には大・中・小のサイズがある。
This shop has large, medium, and small sizes.
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
二月は小の月なので、三十一日はない。
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
この大会は小・中学生が対象です。
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.
大アンティル諸島と小アンティル諸島を地図で確認した。
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.
小デュマは『椿姫』の作者として知られる。
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.
古い土地の記録では、「小」が約四百平方メートルの面積を表すことがある。
In old land records, shō can denote an area of about 400 square meters.
The counterpart to 小の月, meaning a month with 31 days.
Read しょう, this is the Sino-Japanese reading of the kanji 小, conventionally associated with smallness. The word's uses are largely compound, prefix, and abbreviation uses rather than a separate everyday adjective.