urban

See also: Urban

English

Etymology

From Middle French urbain, from Latin urbanus, from urbs (“city”). Doublet of urbane.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈɜːbən/

• Audio (RP)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)bən
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈɝbən/
• Hyphenation: ur‧ban

Adjective

urban (comparative more urban, superlative most urban)

1. Related to the (or any) city.

   urban life

   urban traffic

   • 2013 May 10, Audrey Garric, “Urban canopies let nature bloom”, in The Guardian Weekly‎^[4], volume 188, number 22, page 30:

     As towns continue to grow, replanting vegetation has become a form of urban utopia and green roofs are spreading fast. Last year 1m square metres of plant-covered roofing was built in France, as much as in the US, and 10 times more than in Germany, the pioneer in this field. In Paris 22 hectares of roof have been planted, out of a potential total of 80 hectares.

2. Characteristic of city life.
3. (US, proscribed, outdated) Relating to contemporary African American culture, especially in music.
4. (US, UK, euphemistic, offensive) (of inhabitants or residents) Black; African American.

Usage notes

• The word "urban" in a musical context came to be controversial and it was described as perpetuating and reinforcing the racial stereotyping of black communities, especially black musicians, and as a "catchall for music created by Black artists, regardless of genre", leading to the music industry's replacement of it with more appropriate terms.
• "Urban" as a descriptor of black inhabitants or residents is an offensive and stereotypical usage; see Dictionary.com's "Historical usage of urban" for the explanation.

Antonyms

• nonurban
• rural
• bucolic

Derived terms

• cyburban
• urban crawl
• urban culture
• urban district
• urban fabric
• urbanism
• urbanist
• urbanite
• urbanity
• urbanization, urbanisation
• urbanize, urbanise
• urban legend
• urban prairie
• urban renewal
• urban sanitary district
• urban sprawl

 

Translations

of the city; characteristic of city life

• Arabic: حَضَرِيّ‎ (ḥaḍariyy), مَدَنِيّ‎ (madaniyy)
• Armenian: քաղաքային (hy) (kʿałakʿayin)
• Belarusian: гарадскі́ (haradskí), ме́скі (mjéski)
• Breton: ^{(please verify)} kêr (br) (noun in apposition), ^{(please verify)} kêrel (adjective)
• Bulgarian: гра́дски (bg) (grádski)
• Burmese: မြို့ပြ (my) (mrui.pra.)
• Catalan: urbà (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 城市的 (zh) (chéngshì de), 都市的 (zh) (dūshì de)

• Czech: městský (cs)
• Danish: bymæssig
• Dutch: stedelijk (nl), urbaan (nl), stads-
• Esperanto: urba
• Finnish: urbaani (fi)
• French: urbain (fr), citadin (fr) (of a person)
• Galician: urbano
• German: städtisch (de), urban (de), Stadt- (de)
• Greek: αστικός (el) m (astikós)
• Hebrew: עירוני‎ m (ironí)
• Hungarian: városi (hu)
• Irish: uirbeach
• Italian: urbano (it) m
• Japanese: 都市の (ja) (としの, toshi no)
• Korean: 도시의 (ko) (dosiui)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: شارستانی‎ (ku) (şaristanî)

• Kyrgyz: шаардык (ky) (şaardıq)
• Latin: urbānus (la)
• Macedonian: градски (gradski)
• Manx: ard-valjagh
• Norwegian: urban

  Bokmål: bymessig (no)

• Persian: شهری‎ (fa) (šahri)
• Polish: miejski (pl)
• Portuguese: urbano (pt)
• Romanian: urban (ro)
• Russian: городско́й (ru) (gorodskój)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: гра̀дскӣ

  Roman: gràdskī (sh)

• Slovak: mestský (sk)
• Slovene: mesten
• Spanish: urbano (es)
• Swedish: stads- (sv), urban (sv)
• Tagalog: panlungsod, panlunsod, lunsurin
• Tajik: шаҳрӣ (šahrī)
• Telugu: నగర (nagara)
• Turkish: kentsel (tr)
• Ukrainian: міськи́й (misʹkýj)
• Vietnamese: thành phố (vi), đô thị (vi), thành thị (vi)
• Welsh: trefol (cy)
• Yiddish: שטאָטיש‎ (shtotish)

See also

• Urbanus

References

• Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary, Springfield, Massachusetts, G.&C. Merriam Co., 1967
• urban at OneLook Dictionary Search
• urban in Keywords for Today: A 21st Century Vocabulary, edited by The Keywords Project, Colin MacCabe, Holly Yanacek, 2018.
• urban in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911

Anagrams

• Braun, Buran, Rabun, aburn, buran, unabr., unbar

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Esperanto

Adjective

urban

1. accusative singular of urba

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German

Etymology

From Latin urbanus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʊʁˈbaːn/, [ʊɐ̯ˈbaːn]
• Rhymes: -aːn

• Audio

  (file)

Adjective

urban (strong nominative masculine singular urbaner, comparative urbaner, superlative am urbansten)

1. urban

   Synonym: städtisch

Declension

Positive forms of urban

number & gender		singular			plural
		masculine	feminine	neuter	all genders
predicative		er ist urban	sie ist urban	es ist urban	sie sind urban
strong declension (without article)	nominative	urbaner	urbane	urbanes	urbane
	genitive	urbanen	urbaner	urbanen	urbaner
	dative	urbanem	urbaner	urbanem	urbanen
	accusative	urbanen	urbane	urbanes	urbane
weak declension (with definite article)	nominative	der urbane	die urbane	das urbane	die urbanen
	genitive	des urbanen	der urbanen	des urbanen	der urbanen
	dative	dem urbanen	der urbanen	dem urbanen	den urbanen
	accusative	den urbanen	die urbane	das urbane	die urbanen
mixed declension (with indefinite article)	nominative	ein urbaner	eine urbane	ein urbanes	(keine) urbanen
	genitive	eines urbanen	einer urbanen	eines urbanen	(keiner) urbanen
	dative	einem urbanen	einer urbanen	einem urbanen	(keinen) urbanen
	accusative	einen urbanen	eine urbane	ein urbanes	(keine) urbanen

Comparative forms of urban

number & gender		singular			plural
		masculine	feminine	neuter	all genders
predicative		er ist urbaner	sie ist urbaner	es ist urbaner	sie sind urbaner
strong declension (without article)	nominative	urbanerer	urbanere	urbaneres	urbanere
	genitive	urbaneren	urbanerer	urbaneren	urbanerer
	dative	urbanerem	urbanerer	urbanerem	urbaneren
	accusative	urbaneren	urbanere	urbaneres	urbanere
weak declension (with definite article)	nominative	der urbanere	die urbanere	das urbanere	die urbaneren
	genitive	des urbaneren	der urbaneren	des urbaneren	der urbaneren
	dative	dem urbaneren	der urbaneren	dem urbaneren	den urbaneren
	accusative	den urbaneren	die urbanere	das urbanere	die urbaneren
mixed declension (with indefinite article)	nominative	ein urbanerer	eine urbanere	ein urbaneres	(keine) urbaneren
	genitive	eines urbaneren	einer urbaneren	eines urbaneren	(keiner) urbaneren
	dative	einem urbaneren	einer urbaneren	einem urbaneren	(keinen) urbaneren
	accusative	einen urbaneren	eine urbanere	ein urbaneres	(keine) urbaneren

Superlative forms of urban

number & gender		singular			plural
		masculine	feminine	neuter	all genders
predicative		er ist am urbansten	sie ist am urbansten	es ist am urbansten	sie sind am urbansten
strong declension (without article)	nominative	urbanster	urbanste	urbanstes	urbanste
	genitive	urbansten	urbanster	urbansten	urbanster
	dative	urbanstem	urbanster	urbanstem	urbansten
	accusative	urbansten	urbanste	urbanstes	urbanste
weak declension (with definite article)	nominative	der urbanste	die urbanste	das urbanste	die urbansten
	genitive	des urbansten	der urbansten	des urbansten	der urbansten
	dative	dem urbansten	der urbansten	dem urbansten	den urbansten
	accusative	den urbansten	die urbanste	das urbanste	die urbansten
mixed declension (with indefinite article)	nominative	ein urbanster	eine urbanste	ein urbanstes	(keine) urbansten
	genitive	eines urbansten	einer urbansten	eines urbansten	(keiner) urbansten
	dative	einem urbansten	einer urbansten	einem urbansten	(keinen) urbansten
	accusative	einen urbansten	eine urbanste	ein urbanstes	(keine) urbansten

Further reading

• “urban” in Duden online
• “urban” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache

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Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From Latin urbanus.

Adjective

urban (neuter singular urbant, definite singular and plural urbane)

1. urban
2. urbane

References

• “urban” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

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Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From Latin urbanus.

Adjective

urban (neuter singular urbant, definite singular and plural urbane)

1. urban
2. urbane

References

• “urban” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

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Piedmontese

Alternative forms

• ürban

Etymology

From Latin urbānus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /yrˈbaŋ/

Adjective

urban

1. urban

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Romanian

Etymology

From French urbain, from Latin urbanus.

Adjective

urban m or n (feminine singular urbană, masculine plural urbani, feminine and neuter plural urbane)

1. urbane

Declension

Declension of urban

		singular			plural
		masculine	neuter	feminine	masculine	neuter	feminine
nominative/ accusative	indefinite	urban		urbană	urbani	urbane
	definite	urbanul		urbana	urbanii	urbanele
genitive/ dative	indefinite	urban		urbane	urbani	urbane
	definite	urbanului		urbanei	urbanilor	urbanelor

Related terms

• urbanitate

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Serbo-Croatian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ûrbaːn/
• Hyphenation: ur‧ban

Adjective

ȕrbān (definite ȕrbānī, Cyrillic spelling у̏рба̄н)

1. urban

Declension

indefinite forms

singular		masculine	feminine	neuter
nominative		urban	urbana	urbano
genitive		urbana	urbane	urbana
dative		urbanu	urbanoj	urbanu
accusative	inanimate animate	urban urbana	urbanu	urbano
vocative		urban	urbana	urbano
locative		urbanu	urbanoj	urbanu
instrumental		urbanim	urbanom	urbanim
plural		masculine	feminine	neuter
nominative		urbani	urbane	urbana
genitive		urbanih	urbanih	urbanih
dative		urbanim(a)	urbanim(a)	urbanim(a)
accusative		urbane	urbane	urbana
vocative		urbani	urbane	urbana
locative		urbanim(a)	urbanim(a)	urbanim(a)
instrumental		urbanim(a)	urbanim(a)	urbanim(a)

definite forms

singular		masculine	feminine	neuter
nominative		urbani	urbana	urbano
genitive		urbanog(a)	urbane	urbanog(a)
dative		urbanom(u/e)	urbanoj	urbanom(u/e)
accusative	inanimate animate	urbani urbanog(a)	urbanu	urbano
vocative		urbani	urbana	urbano
locative		urbanom(e/u)	urbanoj	urbanom(e/u)
instrumental		urbanim	urbanom	urbanim
plural		masculine	feminine	neuter
nominative		urbani	urbane	urbana
genitive		urbanih	urbanih	urbanih
dative		urbanim(a)	urbanim(a)	urbanim(a)
accusative		urbane	urbane	urbana
vocative		urbani	urbane	urbana
locative		urbanim(a)	urbanim(a)	urbanim(a)
instrumental		urbanim(a)	urbanim(a)	urbanim(a)

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Slovene

Etymology

Ultimately from Latin urbānus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /urbáːn/

Adjective

urbȃn (not comparable)

1. urban

Inflection

Hard
	masculine	feminine	neuter
nom. sing.	urbán	urbána	urbáno
singular
	masculine	feminine	neuter
nominative	urbán ind urbáni def	urbána	urbáno
accusative	nominativeinan or genitiveanim	urbáno	urbáno
genitive	urbánega	urbáne	urbánega
dative	urbánemu	urbáni	urbánemu
locative	urbánem	urbáni	urbánem
instrumental	urbánim	urbáno	urbánim
dual
	masculine	feminine	neuter
nominative	urbána	urbáni	urbáni
accusative	urbána	urbáni	urbáni
genitive	urbánih	urbánih	urbánih
dative	urbánima	urbánima	urbánima
locative	urbánih	urbánih	urbánih
instrumental	urbánima	urbánima	urbánima
plural
	masculine	feminine	neuter
nominative	urbáni	urbáne	urbána
accusative	urbáne	urbáne	urbána
genitive	urbánih	urbánih	urbánih
dative	urbánim	urbánim	urbánim
locative	urbánih	urbánih	urbánih
instrumental	urbánimi	urbánimi	urbánimi

Synonyms

• mésten

Further reading

• “urban”, in Slovarji Inštituta za slovenski jezik Frana Ramovša ZRC SAZU, portal Fran