*SET-U

English word origin

Etymology of Xi'an

c. mid/late 20th c., 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 A

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In this entry · 1 source sections

The source etymologies

Wiktionary via Kaikki / Wiktextract

The source reports below are imported and unreviewed by *SET-U. Separate numbered origins and differing source variants are preserved; agreement within this extraction is not independent corroboration.

Unnumbered source etymology

Original entry ↗
name

The provincial capital of Shaanxi, China; a subprovincial city in central China famed as the former capital of numerous Chinese dynasties, also known as Chang'an among other historical names. · A district of Liaoyuan, Jilin, China.

Selected source glosses provide context, not a complete modern definition inventory

c. mid/late 20th c., 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. An apostrophe is usually required in pinyin to mark any non-initial syllable beginning with a, o, or e in a multi-syllable word. (See 隔音符號 /隔音符号 (géyīn fúhào) for more.) In this case, the apostrophe happens to distinguish the two separate syllables of xī and ān from the monosyllabic words xiān, xián, xiǎn, and xiàn.

Relationships mentioned by the source

These are extracted mentions, not a timeline or a verified sequence of immediate parents.

Inspect preserved source fields

Raw extraction fields are retained for auditing. Their order does not establish ancestry.

{
  "templates": [
    {
      "name": "trim",
      "args": {
        "1": "mid/late 20th c."
      },
      "expansion": "mid/late 20th c."
    },
    {
      "name": "circa",
      "args": {
        "1": "mid/late 20th c."
      },
      "expansion": "c. mid/late 20th c."
    },
    {
      "name": "bor",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "cmn-pinyin",
        "3": "-"
      },
      "expansion": "Hanyu Pinyin"
    },
    {
      "name": "lang",
      "args": {
        "1": "zh",
        "2": "西安"
      },
      "expansion": "西安"
    },
    {
      "name": "bor",
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        "1": "en",
        "2": "cmn",
        "3": "-"
      },
      "expansion": "Mandarin"
    },
    {
      "name": "der",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "zh",
        "3": "西安",
        "tr": "Xī'ān"
      },
      "expansion": "Chinese 西安 (Xī'ān)"
    }
  ],
  "links": [
    [
      "atonal",
      "atonal"
    ],
    [
      "西安",
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    ],
    [
      "Western",
      "western"
    ],
    [
      "Peace",
      "peace"
    ],
    [
      "Pacification",
      "pacification"
    ],
    [
      "Pacified",
      "pacified"
    ],
    [
      "Area",
      "area"
    ],
    [
      "隔音符號",
      "隔音符號#Chinese"
    ],
    [
      "隔音符号",
      "隔音符号#Chinese"
    ],
    [
      "xī",
      "xī#Mandarin"
    ],
    [
      "ān",
      "ān#Mandarin"
    ],
    [
      "xiān",
      "xiān#Mandarin"
    ],
    [
      "xián",
      "xián#Mandarin"
    ],
    [
      "xiǎn",
      "xiǎn#Mandarin"
    ],
    [
      "xiàn",
      "xiàn#Mandarin"
    ]
  ],
  "references": [],
  "descendants": [],
  "lexical": [
    {
      "pos": "name",
      "glosses": [
        "The provincial capital of Shaanxi, China; a subprovincial city in central China famed as the former capital of numerous Chinese dynasties, also known as Chang'an among other historical names.",
        "A district of Liaoyuan, Jilin, China."
      ],
      "tags": [],
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      "rawRecordSha256": "24985d36d0f95f9da3cadadb1913823b122583b92de3598cfb7380144b713c04",
      "sourceRecordOrdinal": 863270
    }
  ],
  "omittedAuxiliaryFields": {
    "templates": 0,
    "links": 0,
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    "descendants": 0,
    "lexicalRecords": 0,
    "lexicalSenses": 0,
    "glosses": 0
  }
}

Where this record stops

This page does not supply an independently verified sound-change sequence, first-use manuscript or complete family tree unless a cited analysis explicitly establishes one. Missing detail here is a limit of this record—not a claim that humanity knows nothing more.

An older meaning does not determine what a word must mean today. Follow the sources, preserve disagreements, and keep ancestry separate from interpretation.

Contribute located evidence for Xi'an →

Source and snapshot

Imported from Wiktionary contributors; extracted by Tatu Ylonen / Wiktextract / Kaikki.org. Selected fields are reformatted and grouped; wording, source identity and etymology sections are retained. CC-BY-SA-4.0 applies to the imported source material.

Dump: 2026-10-01 · Extracted: 2026-10-30. These are snapshot dates, not the word’s first attestation or the page’s revision date.

Source entry and bibliography ↗Wiktionary revision history ↗Acquisition and rights ledger
Machine-source provenance
Source SHA-256
5ff2c072f8099f2d2ce484bd6957bf179f046d2ad37bc36555edf8bb84cb5291
Import run
73216b9a9b78ed3830994bf853103716f5a4dc57099e371e9f8fdc468facca26
Permanent entry ID
w-WGknYW4