city

See also: City

English

Alternative forms

• citie, cittie, cyte, cytee (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English city, citie, citee, cite, from Old French cité, from Latin cīvitās (“citizenry; community; a city with its hinterland”), from cīvis (“native; townsman; citizen”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱey- (“to lie down, settle; home, family; love; beloved”).

Cognate with Old English hīwan pl (“members of one's household, servants”). See hewe. Doublet of civitas.

Mostly displaced native Old English burg, whence Modern English borough.

Pronunciation

Part of New York City, a large city with many tall buildings.

Despite its small size, Wells is a city because of its cathedral.

• IPA^(key): /ˈsɪti/
  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): [ˈsɪtʰiː]

  • Audio (UK)

    (file)

  • (Northern England, Conservative RP) IPA^(key): /sɪtɪ/
  • (US, General Australian) IPA^(key): /ˈsɪti/, [ˈsɪɾi]

  • Audio (US)

    (file)

  • Audio (AU)

    (file)

• Hyphenation: ci‧ty
• Rhymes: -ɪti

Noun

city (plural cities)

1. A large settlement, bigger than a town; sometimes with a specific legal definition, depending on the place.

   São Paulo is the largest city in South America.

   • c. 1591–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i], page 147, column 2:

     Ah, knovv you not the Citie fauours them, / And they haue troupes of Souldiers at their beck?

   • 1908, W[illiam] B[lair] M[orton] Ferguson, chapter IV, in Zollenstein, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:

     So this was my future home, I thought! […] Backed by towering hills, the but faintly discernible purple line of the French boundary off to the southwest, a sky of palest Gobelin flecked with fat, fleecy little clouds, it in truth looked a dear little city; the city of one's dreams.

   • 2014 June 14, “It's a gas”, in The Economist, volume 411, number 8891:

     One of the hidden glories of Victorian engineering is proper drains. Isolating a city’s effluent and shipping it away in underground sewers has probably saved more lives than any medical procedure except vaccination.

   • 2020 July 15, Mike Brown talks to Paul Clifton, “Leading London's "hidden heroes"”, in Rail, page 42:

     All our stations have changed. We have to constrain numbers. We have to mandate face coverings. These are massive changes in what is a public transport city. This is not a car city.

2. (UK) A settlement granted special status by royal charter or letters patent; traditionally, a settlement with a cathedral regardless of size.
   • 1976, Cornelius P. Darcy, The Encouragement of the Fine Arts in Lancashire, 1760-1860, Manchester University Press, →ISBN, page 20:

     Manchester, incorporated in 1838, was made the centre of a bishopric in 1847 and became a city in 1853. Liverpool was transformed into a city by Royal Charter when the new diocese of Liverpool was created in 1880.

   • 2014, Graham Rutt, Cycling Britain's Cathedrals Volume 1, Lulu.com, →ISBN, page 307:

     St Davids itself is the smallest city in Great Britain, with a population of less than 2,000.

3. (Australia) The central business district; downtown.

   I'm going into the city today to do some shopping.

4. (slang) A large amount of something (used after the noun).

   It’s video game city in here!

Hypernyms

• settlement

Derived terms

• alpha city
• beta city
• capital city
• caravan city
• cardboard city
• cathedral city
• central city
• cidiot
• citaye
• citify
• citizen
• city administrator
• city and county
• city banker
• city block
• city boy
• city break
• city bus
• city center
• city centre
• city chicken
• city clerk
• city council
• city desk
• city district
• city dweller
• city father
• city gent
• city girl
• city hall
• cityite
• city lights
• city limit(s)
• city line
• city man
• city manager
• city map
• city of refuge
• city planning
• city room
• cityscape
• city slicker
• city-state
• city state
• city symphony
• city technology college
• city titty
• city wall
• city water
• citywide
• closed city
• control city
• core city
• cosmological city
• county-level city
• cross-city
• donut city
• doughnut city
• eco-city
• edge city
• fat city
• first city
• free city
• freedom of the city
• free imperial city
• free of the city
• gamma city
• garden city
• Hanseatic city
• hero city
• hidden city
• holy city
• host city
• independent city
• inner city, inner-city
• key to the city
• megacity
• metropolitan city
• million city
• port city
• prefecture-level city
• principal city
• pseudo-city code
• sanctuary city
• satellite city
• second city
• sister city
• smart city
• star city
• star-city
• the city
• the city of a thousand windows
• twin city

 

Place names ending in City

• Adams City
• Alabama City
• Aladdin City
• Alberta City
• Alexander City
• Amador City
• Amelia City
• Archer City
• Arkansas City
• Ashland City
• Atlantic City
• Bay City
• Beaver City
• Belize City
• Bibb City
• Big Bear City
• Bluff City
• Border City
• Bow City
• Bradshaw City
• Brandy City
• Branson City
• Brigham City
• Buffalo City
• Bullhead City
• Butte City
• Cactus City
• California City
• Cañon City
• Canyon City
• Capitol City
• Cascade City
• Cathedral City
• Cave City
• Center City
• Central City
• Charles City
• Cherokee City
• Circle City
• City of Industry
• Clair-Mel City
• Clay City
• Cole City
• Coleman City
• College City
• Colorado City
• Columbia City
• Commerce City
• Connected City
• Contention City
• Cooper City
• Copper City
• Crescent City
• Cross City
• Crystal City
• Culver City
• Dade City
• Dain City
• Dakota City
• Daly City
• Date City
• David City
• Dawson City
• Deem City
• Delaware City
• Diamond City
• Dickerson City
• Dodge City
• Dominion City
• Douglas City
• Duncan City
• Ellicott City
• Emory City
• Everglades City
• Farmer City
• Floral City
• Florida City
• Forbidden City
• Ford City
• Forest City
• Forrest City
• Foster City
• Frisco City
• Frog City
• Garden City
• Gibson City
• Gila City
• Gin City
• Granite City
• Grove City
• Haines City
• Hall City
• Hamilton City
• Harbor City
• Harris City
• Hartford City
• Highland City
• Highway City
• Hill City
• Hobson City
• Holy City
• Holy Cross City
• Huachuca City
• Intercession City
• Iowa City
• Iretaba City
• Iron City
• Ivy City
• Jacob City
• Jaeger City
• Jefferson City
• Jersey City
• Jewett City
• Johnson City
• Joseph City
• Junction City
• Kansas City
• Kenneth City
• Kerr City
• Kettleman City
• King City
• Lagoon City
• Lake City
• Lake Havasu City
• Lardeau City
• Leisure City
• Little Lake City
• Long Island City
• Lost City
• Loup City
• Lumber City
• Luxembourg City
• Marin City
• Mexico City
• Midland City
• Midway City
• Miles City
• Minto City
• Mission City
• Missouri City
• Mojave City
• Mokelumne City
• Mono City
• Montgomery City
• Morgan City
• Motor City
• Mound City
• Mountain City
• Moyie City
• Muck City
• Myakka City
• National City
• Nebraska City
• Ness City
• Nevada City
• New York City
• Nitrate City
• Ocean City
• Ohio City
• Oklahoma City
• Olive City
• Omineca City
• Orange City
• Orchard City
• Oregon City
• Oro City
• Palm City
• Panama City
• Panamint City
• Panorama City
• Pawnee City
• Peachtree City
• Pebble City
• Pecan City
• Pell City
• Phenix City
• Pinal City
• Pincher City
• Pine City
• Plant City
• Plaster City
• Polk City
• Poudre City
• Quebec City
• Queen City
• Quezon City
• Rainbow City
• Raisin City
• Rapid City
• Ray City
• Redwood City
• Reece City
• Reed City
• Rio Grande City
• Rockwell City
• Rogers City
• Sac City
• Sale City
• Salt Lake City
• Salton City
• Sampson City
• Sand City
• San Joaquin City
• Sardis City
• Scant City
• Shake City
• Sierra City
• Silver City
• Similkameen City
• Sioux City
• Slab City
• Spar City
• Sparkle City
• Spicer City
• St. James City
• Star City
• Stirling City
• Studio City
• Sugar City
• Suisun City
• Sulphur City
• Sun City
• Surf City
• Tahoe City
• Tate City
• Tawas City
• Telegraph City
• Tell City
• Temple City
• Texas City
• Tin City
• Tipp City
• Traverse City
• Tuba City
• Tunnel City
• Twin City
• Union City
• University City
• Uranium City
• Valley City
• Vatican City
• Villa City
• Volcanic City
• Vulture City
• Webster City
• West Valley City
• White City
• Yazoo City
• Y City
• Yuba City
• Zama City
• Zip City

 

Pages starting with “city”.

Related terms

• civic
• civil

 

Descendants

• → French: City
• → German: City
• → Italian: city
• → Swedish: city
• → Russian: си́ти (síti)

Translations

large settlement

• Abkhaz: ақалақь (akalakʲ)
• Afrikaans: stad (af)
• Akkadian: 𒌷 (âlu)
• Albanian: qytet (sq)
• Ambonese Malay: kota
• Amharic: ከተማ (am) (kätäma)
• Arabic: مَدِينَة‎ (ar) f (madīna), بَلَد‎ (ar) m (balad)

  Egyptian Arabic: بَلَد‎ (balad)

  Gulf Arabic: مَدينَة‎ f (mədina)

  Moroccan Arabic: مدِينَة‎ (mdīna)

• Aragonese: ziudá f
• Aramaic:

  Hebrew: מְדִינְתָּא‎ f (məḏīntā), כַּרְכָּא‎ m (karkā)

  Syriac: ܡܕܼܝܼܢܬܿܵܐ‎ f (məḏīttā), ܟܿܲܪܟܿܵܐ‎ m (karkā)

• Argobba: ኸተም (xatame)
• Armenian: քաղաք (hy) (kʿaġakʿ)
• Aromanian: cãsãbã (roa-rup) f
• Assamese: নগৰ (nogor), চহৰ (sohor)
• Asturian: ciudá (ast) f
• Avar: шагьар (šahar)
• Azerbaijani: şəhər (az)
• Bashkir: ҡала (qala)
• Basque: hiri (eu)
• Belarusian: го́рад m (hórad), ме́ста n (mjésta)
• Bengali: শহর (bn) (śohor), নগর (bn) (nogor)
• Breton: keoded f, keodedoù pl, kêr (br) f, kêrioù (br) pl
• Bulgarian: град (bg) m (grad)
• Burmese: မြို့ (my) (mrui.)
• Buryat: хото (xoto)
• Catalan: ciutat (ca) f
• Cebuano: dakbayan, siyudad
• Chamicuro: chi'nashtalichi
• Chechen: гӏала (ğala)
• Chichewa: mzinda
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 城市 (sing⁴ si⁵)

  Dungan: чыншы (čɨnšɨ), чын (čɨn), шы (šɨ), чынпу (čɨnpu)

  Hakka: 城市 (sàng-sṳ)

  Mandarin: 城市 (zh) (chéngshì), 都市 (zh) (dūshì), 城 (zh) (chéng), 市 (zh) (shì)

  Min Dong: 城市 (siàng-chê)

  Min Nan: 城市 (zh-min-nan) (siâⁿ-chhī / siâⁿ-chhǐ), 都市 (zh-min-nan) (to·-chhī)

  Wu: 城市 (⁶zen-zy)

• Chuvash: хула (hula)
• Coptic: ⲃⲁⲕⲓ (baki)
• Cornish: cita
• Corsican: cità
• Crimean Tatar: şeer
• Czech: město (cs) n, velkoměsto (cs) n
• Dalmatian: cituot f
• Danish: by (da) c
• Dhivehi: ޝަހަރު‎ (šaharu)
• Dongxiang: baza
• Dutch: stad (nl) f
• East Central German: Stoadt (Silesian)
• Eastern Mari: ола (ola)
• Egyptian: (nwt f)
• Erzya: ош (oš)
• Esperanto: urbo (eo), civito (eo)
• Estonian: linn (et)
• Extremaduran: ciá f
• Faroese: býur (fo) m
• Finnish: kaupunki (fi)
• French: ville (fr) f, cité (fr) f, grande-ville f

  Old French: cité f

• Friulian: citât f
• Galician: cidade (gl) f
• Gallurese: cittai f, zittai f
• Ge'ez: ሀገር f (hägär)
• Georgian: დიდი (didi) ქალაქი (ka) (kalaki)
• German: Stadt (de) f, Großstadt (de) f
• Gothic: 𐌱𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌲𐍃 f (baurgs)
• Greek: πόλη (el) f (póli)

  Ancient: πόλις f (pólis), ἄστυ n (ástu)

• Guaraní: táva (gn)
• Gujarati: શહેર (gu) (śaher), નગર (gu) (nagar)
• Haitian Creole: vil
• Hausa: birni (ha)
• Hawaiian: kūlanakauhale
• Hebrew: עִיר‎ (he) f (ir)
• Hiligaynon: dakbanwa
• Hindi: शहर (hi) m (śahar), नगर (hi) m (nagar)
• Hungarian: város (hu)
• Hunsrik: xtat
• Icelandic: borg (is) f
• Ido: urbo (io), civito (io)
• Indonesian: kota (id)
• Interlingua: citate
• Irish: cathair (ga) f, baile mór m
• Istriot: sità f
• Italian: città (it) f
• Japanese: 都市 (ja) (とし, toshi), 都会 (ja) (とかい, tokai), 町 (ja) (まち, machi) (e.g. 町で - "in the city"), 市 (ja) (し, shi) (compound)
• Javanese: kutha
• Kabardian: къалэ (kbd) (qalɛ)
• Kalmyk: балһсн (balğsn)
• Kannada: ನಗರ (kn) (nagara)
• Kapampangan: lakanbalen
• Karachay-Balkar: шахар (şaxar)
• Karelian: linna
• Kashubian: miasto n
• Kazakh: қала (kk) (qala), шаһар (şahar) (literary)
• Khakas: саар (saar), город (gorod)
• Khmer: ទីក្រុង (tii krong), បុរី (km) (borəy), នគរ (km) (nɔkɔɔ)
• Komi-Permyak: кар (kar)
• Komi-Zyrian: кар (kar)
• Konkani: xar
• Korean: 도시(都市) (ko) (dosi), 시내(市內) (ko) (sinae), 시(市) (ko) (si) (compound)
• Kumyk: шагьар (şahar)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: شار‎ (ckb) (şar)

  Northern Kurdish: bajar (ku) m, şar (ku) m

• Kusunda: səhər
• Kyrgyz: шаар (ky) (şaar), калаа (ky) (kalaa), кен (ky) (ken)
• Ladin: zità f
• Lao: ຊຽງ (sīang), ທານີ (thā nī), ເມືອງ (lo) (mư̄ang), ນະຄອນ (na khǭn)
• Latin: urbs (la) f, civitas (la) f
• Latvian: pilsēta f (or lielpilsēta f if the distinction between city and town is important)
• Leonese: ciudá f
• Ligurian: çitæ, çittæ
• Lithuanian: miestas (lt) m
• Lü: ᦵᦙᦲᧂ (moeng), ᨾᩮᩥ᩠ᨦ, ᦵᦞᦇ (veng), ᦵᦋᧂ (tseng)
• Luxembourgish: Stad (lb)
• Macedonian: град m (grad)
• Malagasy: monina (mg), tanambe (mg)
• Malay: bandar raya (ms), kota (ms), bandar (ms)
• Malayalam: നഗരം (ml) (nagaraṁ)
• Maltese: belt (mt) f
• Manchu: ᡥᠣᡨᠣᠨ (hoton), ᡥᡝᠴᡝᠨ (hecen)
• Manx: ard-valley m, caayr f
• Maori: tāone (mi), tāone nui
• Marathi: शहर (mr) (śahar), नगर (nagar)
• Maricopa: vakpaly
• Mehri: رحبيت‎
• Middle English: cite
• Moksha: ош (oš)
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: хот (mn) (xot)

  Mongolian: ᠬᠣᠲᠠ (qota)

• Nahuatl: altepetl (nah)
• Navajo: kin nitsaago dah naazhjaaʼígíí, kin haalʼá
• Nepali: सहर (ne) (sahar)
• North Frisian: (Föhr-Amrum) steed n
• Northern Thai: please add this translation if you can
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: by (no) m

  Nynorsk: by m

• Nubian:

  Nobiin: diffi (ⲇⲓⲫⲫⲓ, ديفي)

  Old Nubian: ⲇⲡ̅ⲡ (dp̅p)

• Occitan: ciutat (oc) f
• Odia: ନଗର (or) (nôgôrô), ମହାନଗର (môhanôgôrô)
• Ojibwe: gichi-oodena
• Old Church Slavonic:

  Cyrillic: градъ m (gradŭ), мѣсто n (město)

• Old East Slavic: градъ m (gradŭ), мѣсто n (město), городъ m (gorodŭ)
• Old English: burg f
• Old Galician-Portuguese: cidade f
• Oromo: magaalaa
• Ossetian: сахар (saxar), горӕт (goræt)
• Paelignian: banudara
• Pali: nagara n
• Papiamentu: siudat
• Pashto: ښار‎ (ps) m (ẍâr)
• Pela: mjuʔ⁵⁵
• Pennsylvania German: Schtadt, Schtedt
• Persian: شَهْر‎ (fa) (šahr)
• Phoenician: 𐤀𐤄𐤋‎ (ʾhl)
• Piedmontese: sità f
• Plautdietsch: Grootstaut f, Staut f
• Polish: miasto (pl) n
• Pontic Greek: πολιτεία f (politeía)
• Portuguese: cidade (pt) f, urbe (pt) f
• Punjabi: ਸ਼ਹਿਰ (pa) (śahir)
• Quechua: llaqta (qu)
• Romagnol: zitê f
• Romanian: oraș (ro) n, cetate (ro) f, urbe (ro) f
• Romansch: citad f
• Russian: го́род (ru) m (górod), град (ru) m (grad) (archaic or poetic)
• Rusyn: мі́сто n (místo)
• Sanskrit: नगर (sa) n (nagara)
• Sassarese: ziddai f
• Saterland Frisian: Stääd f
• Scots: ceity, ceety
• Scottish Gaelic: baile mòr m, dùn m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: гра̑д m

  Roman: grȃd (sh) m

• Shor: тура (tura)
• Sichuan Yi: ꇓꈓ (lur kur)
• Sicilian: cità (scn) f, citati (scn)
• Silesian: miasto n
• Sinhalese: නගරය (si) (nagaraya)
• Skolt Sami: gåårad, lâ´nn
• Slovak: mesto (sk) n
• Slovene: mésto (sl) n
• Somali: magaalo (so)
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: město n

  Upper Sorbian: město (hsb) n

• Southern Altai: кала (kala)
• Spanish: ciudad (es) f, urbe (es) f
• Sumerian: 𒌷 (URU)
• Swahili: mji (sw)
• Swedish: stad (sv) c
• Sylheti: ꠘꠉꠞ (nogor)
• Tagalog: lungsod (tl), syudad
• Tajik: шаҳр (tg) (šahr)
• Tamil: நகரம் (ta) (nakaram)
• Taos: plòsoʼóna
• Tarifit: tamdint f, tandint f
• Tatar: шәһәр (tt) (şähär), кала (tt) (qala)
• Tausug: daira
• Telugu: నగరం (te) (nagaraṁ)
• Tetum: sidade
• Thai: เมือง (th) (mʉʉang), นคร (th) (ná-kɔɔn), กรุง (th) (grung), เชียง (th) (chiiang)
• Tibetan: གྲོང་ཁྱེར (grong khyer), རྒྱལ་ས (rgyal sa)
• Tigrinya: ከተማ (kätäma)
• Tocharian B: rīye
• Turkish: kent (tr), şehir (tr)
• Turkmen: şäher
• Tuvan: хоорай (xooray)
• Udmurt: кар (kar)
• Ugaritic: 𐎓𐎗 (ʿr)
• Ukrainian: мі́сто (uk) n (místo), град (uk) m (hrad) (archaic or poetic)
• Urdu: شَہَر‎ m (śahar), نَگَر‎ m (nagar)
• Uyghur: شەھەر‎ (sheher)
• Uzbek: shahar (uz)
• Venetian: sità (vec) f, çità f
• Vietnamese: thành phố (vi) (城埔), thành (vi), phố (vi), đô thị (vi) (都市)
• Volapük: zif (vo)
• Võro: liin
• Walloon: veye (wa)
• Welsh: caer (cy) f, dinas (cy) f
• West Frisian: stêd (fy) c
• Western Panjabi: شہر‎ (pnb), نگر‎ (pnb)
• Wolof: dëkk (wo)
• Xhosa: idolophu
• Yagnobi: шаҳр (šahr)
• Yakut: куорат (kuorat)
• Yiddish: שטאָט‎ f (shtot)
• Yoruba: ìlú
• Yup'ik: nunarpak
• Zazaki: bajar (diq), suk (diq) (Southern Zazaki)
• Zhuang: si, hawsingz, singz
• Zulu: ithawini

central business district — see central business district

downtown — see downtown

See also

• megacity
• megalopolis
• metropolis
• multicity

 

Further reading

• "city" in Raymond Williams, Keywords (revised), 1983, Fontana Press, page 55.

Anagrams

• ICTY

Czech

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈt͡sɪtɪ]

Noun

city

1. nominative/accusative/vocative/instrumental plural of cit

Italian

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English city. Doublet of città.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsi.ti/
• Rhymes: -iti

Noun

city f (invariable)

1. city (financial district of a city)

Derived terms

• city bike
• city car
• city manager

Middle English

Noun

city

1. Alternative form of cite

Swedish

Etymology

Borrowed from English city.

Pronunciation

• Audio

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Noun

city n

1. inner city, the commercial centre of a medium-sized or larger city

   Lite närmare city, i närheten av konstmuseet, ligger Norrköpings mest attraktiva lägenheter.

   A little closer to the town centre, next to the art museum, you'll find Norrköping's most attractive apartments.

   Det finns mycket att förbättra i vårt city.

   There are many things that need improvement in our inner city.

Usage notes

• centrum is used for the commercial centre of suburbs and small or medium-sized towns.

Synonyms

• centrum
• innerstad