Amazing Chinese Characters (480) Resembling - 肖

 The bronze script of the character Resembling is

The top is character Small or Little (Post 135), the bottom is character Moon (Post 53). The original meaning of the character is small moon, which includes any moon shapes except the full moon. 

There are two meanings. 

1, the small moon.

2, the moon is gradually getting smaller

One famous dictionary explains the character as "small meat", because the character Meat (Post 252) is similar to, even same as character Moon (small seal script).  There are two meanings too.

1, small meat.

2, meat is getting smaller.

I disagree with the dictionary. There are many evidence to prove the dictionary is wrong, but it is too complex for beginners, so I don't discuss the topic here. 

The big seal script of the character is

The top is character Small.

The small seal script of the character is

Small + Moon.

The clerical script of the character is

Still Small + Moon.

The Pinyin of the character is Xiao1.

The character is not used often as "Resembling" alone, but in proverbs. However, it is a popular family name, everyone knows the family name, but many may not know the "Resembling" meaning.