Chinese · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "洗手间" in Chinese?

Q: How do you pronounce 洗手间 in Chinese?

洗手间 is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /ɕi˨˩˦.ʂoʊ˨˩˦.tɕjɛn˥/. It means “bathroom / restroom.” shee-show-JYEN — but the first two syllables both dip in citation form, so the first converts and you say xí shǒu jiān.

shee-show-JYEN — but the first two syllables both dip in citation form, so the first converts and you say xí shǒu jiān.

洗手间 /ɕi˨˩˦.ʂoʊ˨˩˦.tɕjɛn˥/

xǐshǒujiān

The first two syllables form a dipping pair, so the first converts to a rising tone: xí shǒu jiān. The third syllable is level and plays no part. This is a three-syllable word where the sandhi applies inside the first half only, which is the normal pattern when a compound divides as two-plus-one.

Listen: 洗手间

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Sound it out

xǐ The lips pull back for a thin palatal hiss with the tongue tip pointing down, onto a tense "ee". Written with a dipping hook but spoken as a rise here.

shǒu Now the tongue curls back for the retroflex hiss, onto a vowel that starts fairly unrounded and closes toward "oo". This syllable keeps the low contour.

jiān Unaspirated palatal j into a quick "ee" glide, a tight "eh", and a front n. Held level at the top, so the word climbs out of its low middle.

Hear it in a sentence

洗手间在哪里？

Xǐshǒujiān zài nǎlǐ?

Where is the bathroom?

Listen: 洗手间在哪里？

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洗手间在哪里？ contains two separate conversions. Inside the word, xǐ rises before shǒu. Then at the end, nǎ and lǐ are also a dipping pair, so nǎ rises. Four dipping-tone marks in the sentence and only two of them are spoken as dips — a striking ratio, and typical of questions about location.

Where English speakers slip

The x and sh are produced identically by most learners — both as English "sh" — when one is thin and forward with spread lips and the other dark and hollow with the tongue curled back. They sit side by side here, so the error is unmissable to a native ear. And producing two laboured dips instead of the rise-plus-dip makes the word sound spelled out.