小 Radical 42 — small, little
xiǎo (third tone, dipping)
small, little
Radical 423 strokes2 characters
Also written ⺌ · ⺍ — the same radical in a different position inside the character.
Where the shape comes from
Three tiny specks — grains of sand or dust — scattered around a central line: what is too small to draw individually. When it caps a character the hook disappears and only the three short strokes remain, written ⺌ or ⺍, as in 学 and 常.