Chinese · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "雪" in Chinese?

Q: How do you pronounce 雪 in Chinese?

雪 is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /ɕɥɛ˨˩˦/. It means “snow.” shweh, low and sagging — the thin x hiss plus the rounded front ü opening to "eh". No w-glide anywhere in it.

shweh, low and sagging — the thin x hiss plus the rounded front ü opening to "eh". No w-glide anywhere in it.

雪 /ɕɥɛ˨˩˦/

xuě

Whether it dips or rises depends on what follows, and 雪 shares its exact segments with 学 xué, which carries a rising tone instead. Snow and study differ only in pitch direction, and both appear in ordinary sentences, so the contrast is a practical one rather than a textbook curiosity.

Listen: 雪

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Sound it out

x- Lips spread for a thin, bright hiss with the tongue blade near the hard palate and the tip pointing down. Made further forward than the retroflex sh.

-ue (= üe) After x the letter u is ü. Begin with the tongue high and front while the lips round, then open to an "eh" as the lips relax. One continuous movement, not two beats.

xuě (dip) The voice sinks to the floor across that movement. Since the mouth is already travelling, keeping the pitch on an independent downward path takes some practice.

Hear it in a sentence

山上有雪。

Shān shàng yǒu xuě.

There's snow in the mountains.

Listen: 山上有雪。

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山上有雪。 puts yǒu and xuě side by side, both dipping, so yǒu rises: shān shàng yóu xuě. The sentence opens level, drops on shàng, climbs on the converted yóu, and sinks on xuě. Four syllables covering four different pitch states, with the conversion sitting right in the middle.

Where English speakers slip

Two things go wrong together. The x becomes an English "sh", pulling it toward the retroflex series, and the ü becomes a plain w-glide, giving "shweh" in the English sense. Spread the lips for the hiss, then round them for the vowel while keeping the tongue forward. The yǒu xuě conversion is the third casualty.