Meanings
- alternativeAlternative form of Xi'an.
So the Sacred Chariot wheeled south, to pass through the mountains of Shansi to the inland province of Shensi, where the great ancient capital of the T’ang dynasty, Hsian, would make a princely refuge.
1972, Marina Warner, “A Typhoon in the Apple Tree”, in The Dragon Empress: Life and Times of Tz'u-hsi, Empress Dowager of China, 1835-1908, →ISBN, →LCCN, page 2102 more examples
As regards other possible railways in Shensi and Kansu not yet definitely projected, the most attractive is a line from the neighbourhood of Chingtzu Kuan in south-western Honan up the Tan River valley and across the Ch’inling Shan to Hsian.
1921, Eric Teichman, Travels of a Consular Officer in North-West China, Cambridge University Press, →OCLC, →OL, page 214We arrived in Lingpao, at that time the end of the railroad, early enough in the afternoon to get a room for the night in a hotel and to make arrangement for a truck to take us to Hsian, the capital of Shensi Province, the next day.
1967, Zoral Coberly, Elga Coberly, Dragon Teeth, Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 45
Origin
From Mandarin 西安 (Xī'ān), Wade–Giles romanization: Hsi¹-an¹.
Full word history & related roots →Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
Hsian. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Hsian
“Hsian.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Hsian. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Hsian,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Hsian.
Source: Hsian on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.