慈禧太后 Cixi

[bryce1]

Hello everyone!

I was curious about the Empress Dowager Cixi 慈禧太后 's pinyin tones. I've seen and heard it said as Ci2 Xi3 as well as Ci2 Xi1 (which is also the name of a city in Mainland China). Which one is correct, or are both correct? 谢谢！

- Bryce

[muyongshi]

But the characters are different aren't they? 慈溪 is the city and 慈禧 is the empress...

[bryce1]

the characters are indeed different.

I mentioned 慈溪 because it has the same pronunciation (Ci2 Xi1) as I've heard the Empress Dowager Cixi name pronounced as. (perhaps they are mixing it up with the city) I've heard her name pronounced as both Ci2Xi3 and Ci2Xi1.

Would you or anybody know what the correct pronunciation of Empress Dowager Cixi's name is? (wikipedia, similar sites, are not necessarily accurate.. )

谢谢！

[muyongshi]

Okay I see what you are saying now... I've only heard cí xǐ myself but I am in no way an authority on it...

[LiYuanXi]

Me too, I only heard of Ci2Xi3. Those Chinese dramas pronounce it as Ci2Xi3 too.

[bryce1]

O ok it must be Ci2 Xi3 then ! Thanks a lot to you both~~

[achiese]

禧, both xi1 and xi3 are correct.

In my hometwon, people prefer to pronounce 禧 as xi1.

(廣韻裡禧字為平聲)

[hhjk9901]

禧, means Happinese or Lucky. It is often used in traditional, the phrase and the people's name. In moden Chinese, it's pronounciation is [xi3].

Here is some sentences in traditional Chinese which contain 禧:

禧,礼吉也。——《说文》

福,福也。——《尔雅》

五福降兮民获禧。——《明史》

[simswang]

Sometimes, I heard Ci2xi1 pronounce at Cantonese or Taiwanese dialect pronounce teleplay.

[Xiao Xu]

Only xi3 correct in Mandarin. But xi1 exists in some dialects. Achiese, donnot mislead others please.

[achiese]

Xiao Xu, you know what?

I don't care if xi3 is the only correct pronunciation or not in "your" mandarin,

but it's certainly not in ours. Allow me to quote from the dictionary.

《辭海》

【禧】ㄒ一（希）又讀ㄒ一ˇ(喜)

　　　『名』福、吉利；『例』恭賀新禧。

[xiaocai]

But how about the word "慈禧"? Does your dictionary say that both pronunciations are OK in the word?

[skylee]

My dictionaries do not list "慈禧" as a word (as far as I understand it it is a name).

The Lin Yutang Dictionary lists two pronunciations, with xi1 before xi3 -> http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/cgi-bin/agrep-lindict?query=%c1%48&category=wholerecord

My Xiandai Hanyu Cidian (2001 edition; ISBN 7-100-01777-7) says, "xǐ (舊讀xī) 幸福；吉祥".

Another of my dictionaries is 商務新詞典 (1990). It says "(xǐ 又讀xī) 幸福；吉祥".

Looks like the older the dictionary the more xī is preferred. I think both pronunciations are acceptable.

[Xiao Xu]

不知道台湾是怎么样，至少我这里（大陆）辞海、新华字典和现代汉语词典中都是第三声。

第一声是早已废弃的旧用法，如果参加汉语考试，请勿使用。下面是现代汉语最标准依据《新华字典》解释：

禧

happiness；

禧

xǐ

(1)

(形声。从示,喜声。本义:幸福,吉祥) 同本义 [happiness]

禧,礼吉也。――《说文》

福,福也。――《尔雅》

五福降兮民获禧。――《明史》

(2)

又如:年禧;恭贺新禧;福禄寿禧

禧

xǐ　ㄒㄧˇ

(1)

（旧读xī）福，吉祥：年～。福～。

(2)

喜庆：～贺。新～。

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happiness；

[vivitin]

It's 慈ci2 禧xi3 and 慈ci2 溪xi1 for the city!

[xiaocai]

哦，原来是这样。看来只要不参加考试，问题也不大。不过个人觉得在大陆读三声的人比较多，至少在电视里面都是。