多多少少

Chinese

		many; much; a lot of many; much; a lot of; numerous; multi-	many; much; a lot of many; much; a lot of; numerous; multi-	young; few; little young; few; little; lack	young; few; little young; few; little; lack
trad. (多多少少)		多	多	少	少
simp. #(多多少少)		多	多	少	少
AABB-type reduplication of 多少 (duōshao)

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): duōduōshǎoshǎo

  (Zhuyin): ㄉㄨㄛ ㄉㄨㄛ ㄕㄠˇ ㄕㄠˇ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): do¹ do¹ siu² siu²
• Hakka (Sixian, PFS): tô-tô-séu-séu

---

• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: duōduōshǎoshǎo [Phonetic: duōduōsháoshǎo] → duōduoshǎoshǎo (toneless variant)
    • Zhuyin: ㄉㄨㄛ ㄉㄨㄛ ㄕㄠˇ ㄕㄠˇ → ㄉㄨㄛ ˙ㄉㄨㄛ ㄕㄠˇ ㄕㄠˇ (toneless variant)
    • Tongyong Pinyin: duoduo̊shǎoshǎo
    • Wade–Giles: to¹-to⁵-shao³-shao³
    • Yale: dwō-dwo-shǎu-shǎu
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: duo.duoshaoshao
    • Palladius: додошаошао (dodošaošao)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /tu̯ɔ⁵⁵ tu̯ɔ⁵⁵ ʂɑʊ̯²¹⁴⁻³⁵ ʂɑʊ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/ → /tu̯ɔ⁵⁵ d̥u̯ɔ² ʂɑʊ̯²¹⁴⁻³⁵ ʂɑʊ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: do¹ do¹ siu² siu²
    • Yale: dō dō síu síu
    • Cantonese Pinyin: do¹ do¹ siu² siu²
    • Guangdong Romanization: do¹ do¹ xiu² xiu²
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /tɔː⁵⁵ tɔː⁵⁵ siːu̯³⁵ siːu̯³⁵/
• Hakka
  • (Sixian, incl. Miaoli and Meinong)
    • Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: tô-tô-séu-séu
    • Hakka Romanization System: do´ do´ seu` seu`
    • Hagfa Pinyim: do¹ do¹ seu³ seu³
    • Sinological IPA: /to²⁴⁻¹¹ to²⁴ seu̯³¹ seu̯³¹/

Adverb

多多少少

1. more or less

   • 人大概是沒有不犯錯誤的，多多少少要犯錯誤，犯了錯誤就要幫助。 [MSC, trad.]
     人大概是没有不犯错误的，多多少少要犯错误，犯了错误就要帮助。 [MSC, simp.]

     From: 1956, 毛澤東 (Mao Zedong), 《論十大關係》 (On the Ten Major Relationships), 《毛澤東選集》. English translation based on the Foreign Languages Press edition

     Rén dàgài shì méiyǒu bù fàn cuòwù de, duōduōshǎoshǎo yào fàn cuòwù, fàn le cuòwù jiù yào bāngzhù. [Pinyin]

     Probably no one is free from mistakes, only some make more and some less, and once they do they need help.