大小

大小

Chinese

		big; great; huge big; great; huge; large; major; wide; deep; oldest; eldest; doctor	small; tiny; few small; tiny; few; young
simp. and trad. (大小)		大	小

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): dàxiǎo

  (Zhuyin): ㄉㄚˋ ㄒㄧㄠˇ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): daai⁶ siu²
• Min Nan (POJ): tāi-siáu

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: dàxiǎo
    • Zhuyin: ㄉㄚˋ ㄒㄧㄠˇ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: dàsiǎo
    • Wade–Giles: ta⁴-hsiao³
    • Yale: dà-syǎu
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: dahsheau
    • Palladius: дасяо (dasjao)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /tä⁵¹ ɕjɑʊ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou)⁺
    • Jyutping: daai⁶ siu²
    • Yale: daaih síu
    • Cantonese Pinyin: daai⁶ siu²
    • Guangdong Romanization: dai⁶ xiu²
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /taːi̯²² siːu̯³⁵/
• Min Nan
  • (Hokkien)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: tāi-siáu
    • Tâi-lô: tāi-siáu
    • Phofsit Daibuun: daixsiao
    • IPA (Xiamen): /tai²²⁻²¹ ɕiau⁵³/
    • IPA (Quanzhou): /tai⁴¹⁻²² ɕiau⁵⁵⁴/
    • IPA (Zhangzhou): /tai²²⁻²¹ ɕiau⁵³/
    • IPA (Taipei): /tai³³⁻¹¹ ɕiau⁵³/
    • IPA (Kaohsiung): /tai³³⁻²¹ ɕiau⁴¹/

Noun

大小

1. big and small
2. size (of dresses, shoes, etc.); proportions; dimensions; magnitude
3. old and young; adults and children
4. senior and junior; degree of seniority

Synonyms

• (size): 長短／长短 (chángduǎn), 尺寸 (chǐcùn), 尺碼／尺码 (chǐmǎ)
• (Cantonese, Min Nan) 大細／大细

Derived terms

一家大小 (yījiādàxiǎo) 分大小 半大小子 合家大小 多大小 大大小小 (dàdàxiǎoxiǎo) 大小不一 大小事 大小事情 大小便 (dàxiǎobiàn)

大小金瓦寺 老大小 (lǎodàxiǎo) 事無大小／事无大小 (shìwúdàxiǎo) 大小事務／大小事务 大小人兒／大小人儿 大小廝／大小厮 大小李將軍／大小李将军 大小歐陽／大小欧阳 闔家大小／阖家大小

Adverb

大小

1. at any rate; anyway

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Japanese

大小 (daishō): two pairs of katana and wakizashi.

Etymology 1

Kanji in this term
大	小
だい Grade: 1	しょう Grade: 1
on’yomi

Compound of 大 (dai, “big, large”) +‎ 小 (shō, “small, little”).[1][2]

Pronunciation

• On’yomi: Goon
• (Tokyo) だ​いしょー [dáꜜìshòò] (Atamadaka – [1])[2]
• IPA^(key): [da̠iɕo̞ː]

Noun

大(だい)小(しょう) • (daishō) 

1. large and small
2. the traditional Japanese pair of swords, consisting of the 大刀 (daitō, “big blade”, i.e. katana) and 小刀 (shōtō, “small blade”, i.e. wakizashi)
3. a pair of taiko drums, consisting of one large and one small taiko
4. long months and short months:
   1. in the lunar calendar, long months of 30 days and short months of 29 days
   2. in the solar calendar, long months of 31 days and short months of 30 days or less

Etymology 2

Kanji in this term
大	小
おお Grade: 1	さ Grade: 1
kun’yomi

Appears to be a compound of Old Japanese-derived 大 (ō, “big”) + 小 (sa, “small”, rare reading). Alternatively, may be 大 (ō, “big”) + さ (-sa, suffix indicating degree or amount).

Appears to be mostly obsolete in modern Japanese, superseded by the term 大きさ (ōkisa, “size”, literally “bigness”), from adjective 大きい (ōkii, “big”). The modern Japanese term with the reading of ōsa is 多さ (ōsa, literally “much-ness, many-ness”), from adjective 多い (ōi, “many, much”), deriving from the same Old Japanese root opo as 大きい (ōkii, “big”).

Pronunciation

• Kun’yomi
• IPA^(key): [o̞ːsa̠]

Noun

大(おお)小(さ) • (ōsa) ^{←おほさ (ofosa)?}

1. (probably obsolete) size
   • 東大寺諷誦文稿 (Tōdaiji Fujumonkō, Tōdai Temple Buddhist Prayer Manuscript) [Benseisha bunko; 12] (in Japanese), Tokyo: 勉誠社 (Benseisha), 796–830, published 1976, OCLC 33525032.

     大小(おほさ)は雀(すずめ)の如(ごと)し

     ohosa wa suzume no gotoshi

     The size was just like that of a sparrow.

References

1. 1988, 国語大辞典（新装版） (Kokugo Dai Jiten, Revised Edition) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan
2. 2006, 大辞林 (Daijirin), Third Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN