How to pronounce Xiamen

Xiamen (the island city in Fujian) is 厦门 in Chinese, written Xiàmén in pinyin and said shyah-mun.

厦门 Xiàmén

shyah-mun

Sound by sound

X is said like the sh in “she”, with the tongue behind the bottom teeth. Never “z” or “ks”.
E alone is the “uh” in “duh”, not “ee” or “eh”.

Xiamen (the island city in Fujian) is 厦门 in Chinese, written Xiàmén in pinyin and said shyah-mun.

xià: fourth tone, falling sharply; mén: second tone, rising, as in a question.

X is said like the sh in “she”, with the tongue behind the bottom teeth. Never “z” or “ks”. E alone is the “uh” in “duh”, not “ee” or “eh”.

Voices recorded for our word cards. A spelling such as “shyow-mee” is the nearest English sound, not the sound itself: hear the voices.