舊金山 / 旧金山
Jiùjīnshān
San Francisco in Chinese is expressed as 舊金山 / 旧金山 (Jiùjīnshān), 聖弗朗西斯科 / 圣弗朗西斯科 or 三藩市.
Meaning: city in California (name)
Ways to say it
| Chinese | Romanization (Wiktionary) |
|---|---|
| 舊金山 / 旧金山 | Jiùjīnshān |
| 聖弗朗西斯科 / 圣弗朗西斯科 | Shèngfúlǎngxīsīkē |
| 三藩市 | Sānfānshì |
These terms are used to refer to the city in California.
What does it mean word for word?
The name 舊金山 / 旧金山 literally means 'Old Gold Mountain'.
Which one should you use?
舊金山 / 旧金山 is the most common and standard way to say San Francisco in Mandarin. 三藩市 is a common colloquialism used frequently in Cantonese-speaking communities and by some Chinese speakers in North America.
How do you pronounce it?
Jiùjīnshān
Did you know?
- The name 舊金山 implies the existence of a 'New Gold Mountain', which refers specifically to Melbourne, Australia.
- Even though 'San' in Spanish means 'Saint', the Chinese phonetic version 三藩市 uses the character for 'three' (三), which has no religious connection to the original name.
- The phrase 金山 was historically used by Chinese migrants to refer to any destination in the Americas where they hoped to find fortune.
Examples in context
- 歡迎來到三藩市。Welcome to San Francisco.This sentence shows how to use 三藩市 in a welcoming context.Tatoeba #372124 by nickyeow, translation #53912 by CK
- 请问你来自哪里？我来自旧金山。May I ask where you're from? I'm from San Francisco.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “san francisco” translations, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries 三藩市, 舊金山, CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
