tian shan
/ˌtjɛn ˈʃɑːn/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.83 in modern English
11
Scrabble Score
8
Letters
1
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
name
A mountain range in Central Asia.
Example Sentences
- "WHEN in 1892, on a journey into Central Asia, I first made acquaintance with a small portion of the Central Tian-Shan, I received, even by a mere flying visit, abiding impressions of its magnificent mountain chains."
- "Next they turned against Ma Chung-ying and drove him back to the T'ienshan mountains. But the Red Russian forces when pursuing him received a severe check at a well-known pass, called Tapancheng, where Ma had strongly entrenched himself with about 500 men."
- "Warm letters and precious gifts came pouring in to the construction site from all parts of the country. Among the gifts were saw-wort seeds gathered from the Tienshan Mountains by workers in Singkiang^([sic – meaning Sinkiang]), chingko barley from emancipated serfs in Tibet, earth from people in quake-stricken Tangshan who were rebuilding their homes, water and sand from the Taiwan Straits from P.L.A. men on the Fukien frontline, colour pebbles from Yuhuatai, Nanking, milky quartz from the Kunlun Mountains, camellias from Tali, Yunnan, azaleas from Kangting, Szechuan, earth from the Chingkang Mountains, Kiangsi, water from Nanniwan, Shensi, etc. They embodied the profound proletarian feelings of the people of all nationalities for Chairman Mao."
- "During my inspection of counties in Changchi Prefecture last September, I came to realize that the irrigation of the Sinkiang farmland depended mainly on the melted snow of the Tienshan Mountains."
- "We have descended Tian Shan and entered the Taklamakan Desert, a barren landscape painted in ecru—no shrubs, no grass, only waves upon waves of naked ridges the color of buff, the highest few spotted with white specks of snow."
- "The excavation of the KaraDjigach site, in the Chu-Valley within the foothills of the Tian Shan mountains of Kyrgyzstan, in August 1886."
Etymology
From the Hanyu Pinyin romanisation of Mandarin 天山 (Tiān Shān), from Uyghur تەڭرىتاغ (tengritagh, literally “Mountains of God (Tengri)”) (Tengri Tagh).
Word Breakdown
- Root: -, 天山, تەڭرىتاغ