胆小
dǎn xiǎo · HSK 5
timid
🐔 胆小 = gallbladder + small; in Chinese idiom a small gallbladder = timid
Compound decomposition: 胆 (dǎn, gallbladder) + 小 (xiǎo, small). Chinese tradition locates courage in the gallbladder, so a small one means cowardice. The English idiom chicken-hearted maps the same idea onto a different organ.
胆 — flesh radical 月 (肉) + 旦 dàn (phonetic)
胆 is a phono-semantic compound. The 月 component here is the 'flesh/meat' radical (肉), marking it as a body part — the gallbladder. 旦 (dàn) gives the sound. By extension, since the gallbladder was traditionally linked to courage, 胆 also means 'guts' or 'bravery'.
小 — three small strokes around a central vertical
小 is a pictograph originally showing three tiny dots or specks, suggesting small particles or grains. Over time the dots became stylized strokes flanking a central line. The core meaning 'small' has stayed remarkably stable from oracle bone script to today.