小 (xiǎo) is Kangxi radical no. 42, “small”. It also appears as ⺌ (xiǎo). In this form it is written with 3 strokes.
As a radical, 小 (xiǎo) is the part a dictionary files these characters under. Often it hints at the meaning - “small” - but sometimes it is only a shape that the character happened to share.
The characters range from 3 to 12 strokes. 2 of them already appear in HSK 3.0 levels 1–2, and 2 have a full word page of their own.
Good ones to start with: 小 (xiǎo) small / little, 少 (shǎo) few / little, 当 (dāng) to be, 尝 (cháng) to taste.
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