Word
少ない
Meaning in Englishfew, little
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Word context
What it means
少ない means not many or a small quantity. It describes a small number of countable items or scarce resources, and it functions as an i-adjective that modifies nouns or appears in predicates to express scarcity relative to expectation or need.
Main meanings
- Small counts of people or items; used for numeric scarcity.
- Scarcity of resources, opportunities, or time.
- Used in comparisons to indicate a quantity is lower than expected or desirable.
- Register ranges from neutral to formal, suitable for both speech and writing.
How to use it
Commonly used to describe quantities in everyday speech and formal prose. Patterns include Xが少ない and Xは少ない to mark the topic or subject; it can modify nouns directly as 少ない資源 or 少ない時間, and it also appears in constructions like あまり〜ない with negative nuance.
Variants and close terms
- 乏しい (とぼしい) — toboshii; scarce
- 多い (おおい) — ooi; many
- 不足 (ふそく) — fuzoku; shortage
Composition
- 少: few, little
- な: stem-forming element turning 少 into 少な
- い: adjective ending completing the i-adjective 少ない
Etymology
少 means 'few, little'. The stem 少な combines with the i-ending い to form 少ない, yielding the sense of 'not many'.
Word class
adjective (形容詞・イ形容詞)
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