Definition of "xian"

xian¹

noun
plural xians
1. (China, Taiwan) An administrative subdivision of imperial, republican, and communist China roughly equivalent to counties, now distinguished from the more urban "districts" (qu). (Alternative form of hsien for Taiwan (ROC).)
  Quotations
  Tight and dense motifs occur on bronzes excavated in 1923 from a tomb at Lijialou at Xinzheng Xian in southern Henan attributed to the small state of Zheng.
  1987, Jessica Rawson, “The Eastern Zhou Period”, in Chinese Bronzes: Art and Ritual‎, British Museum Publications, page 47
  At the time of the elections (1980) Nanjing was subdivided into three suburban counties (xian) and nine urban districts (qu).
  1990, Barrett L. McCormick, “Elections to Local People's Congresses”, in Political Reform in Post-Mao China: Democracy and Bureaucracy in a Leninist State‎, University of California Press, page 138

xian²

noun
plural xians
1. (sometimes derogatory or offensive) Alternative form of Xian: Christian.
adjective
not comparable
1. (sometimes derogatory or offensive) Alternative form of Xian: Christian.
  Quotations
  But what an epoch in the xian world—what a time for a xian Orator to make a deep & eternal impression on socity[sic].
  1993, Mary Moody Emerson, edited by Nancy Craig Simmons, The Selected Letters of Mary Moody Emerson, Athens: University of Georgia Press, page 242