細 (sai3 | xi4) : small

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細

sai3

xi4

[1] fine
[2] tiny; small; little (often used in spoken Cantonese to describe objects or animals)
[3] slender; thin; tall but lean; slim
[4] petty; trifling; detailed
[5] precise; exquisite; delicate (workmanship, etc.)

Stroke count: 11

Level: 2

Radical: 糸 (#120)

This character is used in both Cantonese and Mandarin/Standard written Chinese.

細 / 细

This word has been viewed 22494 times since 30th Oct 2012, was added by sheik on 18th Mar 2007 21:22 and last edited on 14th Oct 2009 09:59

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細個 sai3 go3 xi4 ge4 = small; young 粵

一家大細 jat1 gaa1 daai6 sai3 = All Members of the Family.

老細 lou5 sai3 lao3 xi4 = boss; manager; owner 粵

細佬 sai3 lou2 xi4 lao3 = younger brother 粵

細佬哥 sai3 lou2 go1 = child; children (male or female) 粵

細妹 sai3 mui6*2 = younger sister 粵

細聲 sai3 seng1 = soft (volume) 粵

仔細 zi2 sai3 zi3 xi4 = careful; carefully; attentive; cautious

加細碼 gaa1 sai3 maa5 = extra small size (XS)

細碼 sai3 maa5 = small size (S)
See all 125 compounds (CantoDict reports 131 compounds in total, but some may be Common Formations)

Showing all 17 examples containing 細

要好好珍惜你細佬粵
You need to take care of your brother.
[Lit. you need cherish you brother.]

細路仔好興奮！粵
The children are getting excited!

詳細嘅情況我唔可以透露粵
I can't let you in on the details.
[Lit. small-details information I not-allowed divulge.]

我好憎湊細蚊仔粵 ?!
I hate looking after brats.
[Lit. I very hate look-after little-mosquitoes.]

因為唔知底細，所以暫時叫佢紅鬼粵
Since we don't have much information, we're calling him "red ghost" for now.
[Lit. because not-know exact-details, therefore temporarily call him red ghost. ("Red Ghost" here is a codename for a criminal. If his name had already been mentioned we could have 因為唔知底細所以暫時噉叫佢.)]

啲細路仔匿埋喺張枱下便粵
The kids are hiding under the table.
[Lit. the kids hide at [counter] table underneath.]

間辦公室俾啲細路搞到立立亂。粵
The office was turned upside-down by the kids.
[[parsing] (classifier) office by (plural classifier) kids make (extent particle) chaotic http://www.cantonese.sheik.co.uk/phorum/read.php?14,128766 ]

咪用藤條拂細路。粵
Don't hit kids with a cane.
[Lit. don't use cane whip children.]

老細話去邊﹐我哋就去邊。粵
We'll go wherever the boss says.
[Cantonese sentences often feature a balanced structure with repetitive wordings rather than a simple structure. ]

我唔理個房幾細, 求其有張床就得喇粵
I don't mind how small the room is as long as there is a bed inside.

老細請呢餐我哋都食到依牙鬆槓粵
The treat from my boss was wonderful and the food was great!

老細畀啲工人激到佢七竅生煙粵
Boss got really pissed off by the workers.

好彩得到你細心查核，搵到問題嘅所在粵
Fortunately due to your careful checks, we are able to find where the problem lies.

每位藝術家對作品的細節一點都不敢苟且
All the artists pay very careful details towards their art pieces.

而家啲細路真係身在福中不知福！粵
Children nowadays really don't know how fortunate they are.

細佬，冇人鐘意喺公眾地方著衫嘅，但係呢啲係法律呀粵
Kid, no-one likes to wear clothes in public, but it's the law!
[Lit. child, have-no people like in public place wear-clothes [particle], however these are law [particle]]

做緊健身操嗰個人係我細佬。粵
The guy doing the keep-fit exercise is my brother.
[In the Canto version, the noun 'guy' is placed after the verbal phrase which modifies the noun. In the English version, the noun is placed before the phrase.]

Legend
國 : This term is used in Mandarin/Standard written Chinese, not Cantonese.
粵 : This term is used in Cantonese, not Mandarin/Standard written Chinese.
No icon: This term is used in both Cantonese and Mandarin/Standard written Chinese.

Forum Code to link to this word:
[big][url=http://www.cantonese.sheik.co.uk/dictionary/characters/49/]細[/url][/big]
HTML Code to link to this word:
<a href="http://www.cantonese.sheik.co.uk/dictionary/characters/49/" class="chinesemed" target="_blank">細</a>
Decimal representation of this word: 細
Unicode code for this character: U+7d30 (off-site link)

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