Etymology

An irregular romanization of Chinese 陝西 ‎(Shǎnxī, “[Land] West of the Shan Pass”), with the first syllable from the Gwoyeu Romatzyh system and the second from pinyin, in order to distinguish it from the province of 山西 ‎(Shānxī, “[Land] West of the [Taihang] Mountains”) in atonal spelling. When tone marks are present, the single-A Shǎnxī is preferred.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʃɑːnˈʃiː/, /ˈʃænˈʃiː/