miǎo

tip of twig

The tip  of a branch  also provides the pronunciation

Components
木 meaning component

  Meaning component

  

tree

少 sound,meaning component

  Sound Meaning component

shǎoshào

  

few

Evolution

杪 Seal script Shuowen (~100 AD)

Seal script

Shuowen (~100 AD)
杪 Regular script Modern

Regular script

Modern
Definitions

 

miǎo

tip of twig, top of tree; twig; the limit; tip of branch