Pinyin Syllable
Chinese characters pronounced xuan
Learn common Chinese characters pronounced xuan, including 选 xuǎn, 宣 xuān, 旋 xuán / xuàn, 玄 xuán, 悬 xuán. Compare tones, meanings, traditional forms, words…
How to Pronounce This Syllable
xuan raises the front of the tongue for x, then opens into uan; keep it light and joined, with the tone over the whole syllable.
Initial x
A light, forward hissing sound.
Final uan
Settle the final uan into a steady mouth shape first, then lay the tone on top.
Study Tip
Start with the most common characters (选 xuǎn, 宣 xuān, 旋 xuán / xuàn, 玄 xuán, 悬 xuán) and lock in their tones. 7 common characters share the sound xuan, so lean on words to tell the rest apart.
Learn by Tone
xuan turns up here with 3 different tones; a change of tone usually means a different character, so the groups below are split by tone.
1st tone
Taking the 1st tone here: 宣, 轩 (2 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.
2nd tone
Taking the 2nd tone here: 旋, 玄, 悬… (4 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.
3rd tone
Taking the 3rd tone here: 选 (1 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.
Common Words With This Sound
Seeing xuan inside whole words makes it clear which character is meant — here are common ones.
Characters
7 common characters in this group.