Word
少しも
Meaning in Englishnot at all, not even a little
Animated kanji stroke order
Sentence
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Word context
What it means
少しも functions as a negation intensifier preceding a negative predicate, signaling complete absence of any amount.
Main meanings
- 1) Complete negation: emphasizes that no amount of something exists or is true.
- 2) Intensifies negativity: commonly pairs with ない, ありません, etc., to strengthen a statement.
- 3) Style note: more common in formal or written Japanese; casual speech often uses ちっとも or other forms.
How to use it
Predominantly precedes a negative predicate such as ない or ありません to express strong negation; suitable for formal, written, and careful speech; in casual spoken Japanese, ちっとも is more common; the construction is relatively fixed and does not appear with positive statements.
Variants and close terms
- ちっとも (chitto mo) — casual counterpart meaning not at all
- 全く (mattaku) — stronger or more general not at all when used with negatives
Composition
- 少: little, few
- し: part of the adverbial stem
- も: particle meaning 'even' or 'also' used for emphasis
Etymology
Phonetic evolution: 少し is formed from 少 (small) plus the adverbial suffix し, while も is a particle that adds emphasis or inclusivity; their combination yields 少しも, an expression used to intensify negation.
Word class
adverb (副詞)
Word
Related words by kanji and components
N2
少なくとも
sukunakutomo
at least
N2
青少年
seishounen
youth, young person
N3
少女
shoujo
young girl, maiden
N3
少々
shoushou
a little, briefly, slightly
N3
少年
shounen
boy, juvenile boy
N3
減少
genshou
decrease, reduction, decline
N3
多少
tashou
somewhat, a little, some amount
N5
少し難しい
sukoshi muzukashii
a little difficult
N5
少ない
sukunai
few, little
Kanji