稍
shāo · HSK 5
a little bit
🌾 禾 grain + 肖 resemble — a slight, slender stalk of grain means 'a little'
稍 combines 禾 (grain) with 肖 (resemble/small). A thin grain stalk is barely there, hence 'slightly' or 'a little bit'. The 肖 component also gives the shāo sound.
稍 — grain 禾 + small 肖
A semantic-phonetic compound. The grain radical 禾 hints at the meaning, while 肖 (xiào) supplies the sound. Originally describing a small tip of grain, 稍 broadened to mean 'tip' or 'slightly,' and is now mostly used as the adverb 'a little, somewhat.'