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xian

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Xian¹

Where it comes from

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)).

proper noun

  1. alternative, proscribed, sometimes Alternative spelling of Xi'an "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 t

Xian²

  • /ʃiæn/
  • /ʃiɛn/

Where it comes from

Borrowed from Chinese 咸 (Xián).

proper noun Xians

  1. A surname from Chinese.

Xian³

Sounds like Christian

Where it comes from

From X as a stand-in for Ancient Greek Χ (Kh) as an initial representing Χριστος (Khristos, “Christ, the Anointed One”), q.v. In present use, a modern coinage after the model of Xmas.

noun Xians · xian · Xtian

  1. abbreviation, derogatory, offensive, sometimes Abbreviation of Christian

adjective xian · Xtian

  1. abbreviation, derogatory, not comparable, offensive, sometimes Abbreviation of Christian

xian⁴

Where it comes from

From the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of Mandarin 縣 /县.

noun xians · hsien

  1. China, Taiwan 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).) Tight and dense motifs occur on bronzes excavated in 1923 from a tomb at Lijialou at Xinzheng Xian in southern Henan attributed to the small state of Zheng.

    Similar: county

xian⁵

Where it comes from

An alternative capitalization of Xian.

noun xians

  1. alternative, derogatory, offensive, sometimes Alternative form of Xian: Christian.

adjective

  1. alternative, derogatory, not comparable, offensive, sometimes Alternative form of Xian: Christian. But what an epoch in the xian world—what a time for a xian Orator to make a deep & eternal impression on socity^([sic]).

xian⁶

adjective more xian · most xian

  1. Singapore, Singlish, alternative Alternative spelling of sian (“bored, boring”).

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MLA

"xian." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/xian. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

xian. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/xian

Chicago

"xian." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/xian.

BibTeX
@misc{xian_2026,
  title = {xian},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/xian},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}