Xiamen

/ʃjɑːˈmɛn/

//ʃjɑːˈmɛn// name

"xiamen" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“Xiamen” is uncommon English (frequency #57,183 among 54 “X” headwords), classed as a proper noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#57,183
frequency rank, English
54
“X” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A prefecture-level city and subprovincial city of Fujian, in southeastern China.

Corpus desk

Index EN-xiamen · Xiamen · English

Xiamen · rank #57,183 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #57,183
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 54
  • PHOTO-FINISH Yamazaki

Nearest frequency peer: Yamazaki (+1 rank slots)

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Long-tail ranks near “Xiamen”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

What this shows Long-tail view: where “Xiamen” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for Xiamen
PropertyValue
HeadwordXiamen
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechProper noun
IPA/ʃjɑːˈmɛn/
Letters6
Frequency rank#57,183
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “Xiamen” in English

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right).Xiamenfalls in this rarity band:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Rare peers in the same band: “Yamazaki” (#57,184), “Yogyakarta” (#57,185), “wod” (#57,179). Among 54 “X” headwords, “Xiamen” is #57,183. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

Xiamen is uncommon English at frequency #57,183 among 54 “X” headwords, classed as aproper noun, transcribed /ʃjɑːˈmɛn/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A prefecture-level city and subprovincial city of Fujian, in southeastern China.".

Xiamen doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.

Etymologically, the entry records: From the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of the Mandarin 廈門 /厦門 /厦门 (Xiàmén). The correct English form is Xiamen, spelled X-I-A-M-E-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    A prefecture-level city and subprovincial city of Fujian, in southeastern China.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how Xiamen appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. The BRICS -- Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa -- had gathered in the southeastern Chinese city of Xiamen hoping to counter accusations that the group of big emerging economies was drifting apart and becoming irrelevant.
  2. For the past month Beijing has routinely sent drones over the Kinmen islands, which are about six miles from the coastal Chinese city of Xiamen. Recently China started to release high-resolution, close-range drone video of military facilities on Kinmen.

Etymology

From the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of the Mandarin 廈門 /厦門 /厦门 (Xiàmén).

Synonyms

This word in other languages

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "Xiamen"?
"Xiamen" is spelled X-I-A-M-E-N. The IPA pronunciation is /ʃjɑːˈmɛn/.
What does "Xiamen" mean?
As a proper noun, "Xiamen" means: A prefecture-level city and subprovincial city of Fujian, in southeastern China.
How do you pronounce "Xiamen"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "Xiamen" is /ʃjɑːˈmɛn/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "Xiamen"?
From the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of the Mandarin 廈門 /厦門 /厦门 (Xiàmén). See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "Xiamen", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list