Xi'an Dialect: 17 Common Words and What They Mean

Xi'an is the capital of Shaanxi. Its speech is the typical form of the Guanzhong dialect, a kind of Central Plains Mandarin. Shaanxi has three speech areas: Jin in the north, Guanzhong in the middle, and a mix in the south. Xi'an speech belongs to the middle one.

How the Xi'an Dialect Changes Standard Mandarin

咧 replaces 了 and 么 replaces 吗, and the table shows the other swaps.

Questions and Quick Replies

Most of these are short replies, so they are the easiest to start using.

吃咧么？

Have you eaten?Standard Mandarin: 吃了吗？吃咧没？ is another friendly way to ask the same thing.

咋咧？

What's wrong?Standard Mandarin: 怎么了？这咋弄？ means "How do I do this?"

嫑急

Don't worry, take your timeStandard Mandarin: 别急嫑 joins 不 and 要 into one character. 嫑客气 means "You're welcome."

么麻达

No problemStandard Mandarin: 没问题西安发布, the city's official account, says people use it to agree to a request. 陕西网 spells it 么马达.

哪达

WhereStandard Mandarin: 哪里这达 means "here". Wiktionary writes these with 搭, and The World of Chinese writes 啊达 to show the sound.

兀达

ThereStandard Mandarin: 那里Wiktionary lists 兀搭儿 for Xi'an. The World of Chinese writes it 屋达.

Words That Sound Like Xi'an

Two of these words, 克里马擦 and 嘎达马西, came into Chinese along the old Silk Road.

咥

To eat, with a big appetiteStandard Mandarin: 吃China National Radio points out that the same character appears in the Book of Changes. 陕西日报's example is 咱咥个羊肉泡, "let's go eat lamb soup with bread".

嫽扎咧

Great!Standard Mandarin: 太好了西安发布 says it often praises good food. The World of Chinese spells it 嫽咋咧.

美太太

WonderfulStandard Mandarin: 好极了陕西网 gives it as the way young people in Xi'an praise a bowl of 泡馍.

谝闲传

To chatStandard Mandarin: 聊天西安发布 compares it to 唠嗑 and gives the classroom warning 上课嫑谝闲传, "no chatting in class".

克里马擦

Quickly, brisklyStandard Mandarin: 赶快China National Radio says it comes from Old Turkic. 西安发布 uses it for getting things done without fuss.

嘎达马西

Odds and ends, clutterStandard Mandarin: 零零碎碎的东西China National Radio traces it to Uyghur. 西安发布's example asks someone to tidy away their 嘎达马西 things.

木乱

Flustered, out of sortsStandard Mandarin: 心烦西安发布 writes it 瞀乱 and uses it for feeling hot and irritable.

禅活

Comfy, just rightStandard Mandarin: 舒服西安发布 uses it after a long day. China National Radio writes it 善和.

成马咧

To the limit, extremelyStandard Mandarin: 极了It goes after a word. 热成马咧 means "hot as anything", and 西安发布 used 快成马咧 for super-fast trains.

碎

SmallStandard Mandarin: 小碎娃 means "little kid".

忒色

Really greatStandard Mandarin: 很棒西安发布 uses it for the city at night.

How the Xi'an Dialect Sounds

Xi'an speech moves words to different tones. Words with the third tone are said with the fourth, and words with the fourth are said with the first. The first tone is lower, and words that start with a vowel, like 爱 and 安, begin with the sound at the end of the English word "sing".

陕西网, Shaanxi's provincial news site, made a ten-minute video about Shaanxi speech: “大唐雅音”，既city又忒色.

Read Xi'an Speech in Lessons

Poppy, your AI tutor, writes every lesson on Bubblegum's Xi'an journey at your level, and the people in her stories say 嫑急 at a ticket window and 吃咧么 at a family dinner.

For a step-by-step plan, read the best way to learn the Xi'an dialect.

Common Questions