Xi'an

See also: xī'àn, xian, Xian, xián, xiàn, xiān, xiǎn, Xī'ān, and xī'ān

English

Xi'an as seen from the Goose Pagoda (2011)

Alternative forms

• Xian (sometimes proscribed)
• Sian, Hsian, Hsi-an (obsolete)

Etymology

The atonal Hanyu Pinyin romanization of the Mandarin pronunciation of Chinese 西安 (Xī'ān), usually glossed as meaning "Western Peace" but inclusive of the idea of "Western Pacification" or "Pacified Area", first adopted under the Ming Dynasty in 1369 as the city was conquered from the Yuan and protected with a new wall. The apostrophe is technically necessary to distinguish that 2 separate syllables are intended, as opposed to the single syllables xiān, xián, xiǎn, or xiàn, but frequently omitted in English writing.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈʃɪˈæn/, /ˈʃiːˈɑːn/

Proper noun

Xi'an

1. A subprovincial city, the provincial capital of Shaanxi, in central China.
   • 1984 January, Nina Hyde, “The Queen of Textiles”, in National Geographic‎^[1], volume 165, number 1, page 30:

     THE SILK ROAD was actually a perilous network of routes. It was hazardous to monks and pilgrims carrying Buddhist teachings between India and China and even more hazardous to traders, who intended to exchange gold, wool, horses, jade, and glass for silk. The road started in what is now Xi'an, in Shaanxi Province, traversed a barren crust of earth through treacherous mountains and desert across Central Asia to Antioch and Tyre; the last lap, to Europe and Egypt, was by water to other Mediterranean ports.

   • 2005, Bill Clinton, My Life‎^[2], volume II, New York: Vintage Books, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 434:

     We began the trip at the ancient capital of Xi'an, where the Chinese put on an elaborate and beautiful welcoming ceremony. The next day we had the opportunity to walk among the rows of the famous terra-cotta warriors, and to have a roundtable discussion with Chinese citizens in the small village of Xiahe.

   • 2010, Walter Mondale, David Hage, The Good Fight: A Life in Liberal Politics‎^[3], Scribner, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 220:

     Then on Wednesday, after our formal talks concluded, Joan, Eleanor, and I traveled to the ancient city of Xi'an, home of the extraordinary exhibit of terra-cotta soldiers.

Synonyms

• Chang'an, Changan (historical)
• Singan, Sianfu (obs.)

Translations

a city of China

• Arabic: شِيَان m (šiyān), شِيئَان m (šiʾān)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 西安 (sai¹ on¹)

  Mandarin: 西安 (zh) (Xī'ān)

• Finnish: Xian
• French: Xi’an f
• Hungarian: Hszian
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Japanese: 西安 (せいあん, Seian)
• Korean: 시안 (ko) (Sian)
• Lü: ᦌᦲᧈᦁᧃᧈ (sii¹ʼan¹)
• Macedonian: Сји́ан m (Sjían)
• Polish: Xi'an n
• Russian: Сиа́нь m (Siánʹ)
• Vietnamese: Tây An (vi)
• Zhuang: Sih'anh

Anagrams

• Axin, Naxi, axin