Xibe
/ˈʃiːbə/noun
A member of an Indigenous Tungusic-speaking people of northeastern China, or the language spoken by them.
Did you know?Xibe is also written Sibe or Xibo, and Xibe-speaking communities in Xinjiang preserved a distinct form of Manchu script after migrating westward in the eighteenth century.
Etymological Timeline
17th Century
Manchu
Sibe / Sibo
“An ethnonym used for the Sibe people; the deeper origin and original meaning are uncertain.”
17th–18th Century
Qing Chinese
锡伯
“Xibo, the Chinese written form of the ethnic name.”
18th Century
Manchu
ᠰᡳᠪᡝ
“Sibe, written in Manchu script in Qing-period records.”
18th Century
English scholarship
Sibo / Sibe
“Transliterations used by Western writers for the people and their language.”
Modern English
English
Xibe
“A standard modern romanization referring to the people or their Tungusic language.”