xian
/ʃiæn/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.80 in modern English
11
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
2
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
name
Alternative spelling of Xi'an.
noun
An administrative subdivision of imperial, republican, and communist China roughly equivalent to counties, now distinguished from the more urban "districts" (qu). (Alternative form of hsien for Taiwan (ROC).)
adj
Alternative spelling of sian (“bored, boring”).
Example Sentences
- ""Archeologists drew almost a complete blank in their search of the inner tomb," the official New China News Agency said Saturday in a report of excavations at the tomb site, thought to be between 2,200 and 2,800 years old. The site is in Fengxiang County of Shaanxi Province, about 90 miles west of the ancient Yellow River capital of Xian."
- "Next came several more days of sightseeing that included a few opportunities to observe the changes going on in China, as well as a fascinating look into its past. We flew to Xian, the ancient capital of China, then drove almost ninety minutes to the tomb of China's first emperor and the site where archaeologists had unearthed hundreds of life-size terra-cotta figures of soldiers standing in ranks, complete with horses and chariots, to guard the tomb. "They know there are more than 7,000 [terra-cotta soldiers] that haven't been uncovered yet," I wrote that evening in my diary: "It is an unforgettable experience. This—plus the drive past villages surrounded by endless wheat fields dotted here and there with burial mounds and relics of China's ancient past—made for a day we'll long remember.""
- "A fervent believer in an afterlife, Qin Shihuang ordered his tomb to be guarded by 8,000 terra-cotta statues. This grandiose resting place was accidentally disinterred in 1976 by farmers digging a well in the ancient capital, Xian, during a drought. Dr. Huang broached the idea of a terra-cotta exhibit on a trip to Shanxi Province, where Xian is located, three years ago."
- "3. One reason for the growth and success of ninth-century cities like Baghdad, Constantinople and Ch'ang-an (Xian) was that they . . . a. were part of the Roman Empire b. tolerated religious diversity c. traded only with people from their immediate region d. were located on major trade routes"
- "According to the 2000 Census for Shaanxi province, Hu county near the provincial capital of Xian municipality has over 250,000 residents, while the geographically larger, but more remote Ganquan county has only 30,000."
- "Lien Chan had a PhD from the University of Chicago and was the heir to a vast family fortune. Born in Xian, China, in the 1940s, he never developed a feel for Taiwan’s common people."
Etymology
c. late 20th c., from the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of Chinese 西安 (Xī'ān, “Western Peace”), without syllable-dividing mark (隔音符號/隔音符号 (géyīn fúhào)).
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: -, 西安, 咸, Χ, 縣
Usage
Inflected Forms
Xians (plural)
Xtian (alternative)
hsien (alternative)
more xian (comparative)
most xian (superlative)