city
See also: City
English
Etymology
From Middle English cite, from Old French cite, from Late Latin cīvitātem (“city”), in Classical Latin "citizenry", derived from cīvis (“fellow-citizen”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ḱey- (“lie down; settle”).
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)
- 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.
- (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.
- (Australia) The central business district; downtown.
- I'm going into the city today to do some shopping.
- (slang) A large amount of something (used after the noun).
- It’s video game city in here!
Hypernyms
Derived terms
- 15-minute city
- agrocity
- alpha city
- anticity
- beta city
- capital city
- caravan city
- cardboard city
- cathedral city
- central city
- cidiot
- citaye
- citied
- citification
- citify
- citizen
- city administrator
- city and county
- city banker
- city block
- citybound
- city boy
- city break
- city-builder
- city-building game
- citybus
- city bus
- city center
- city centre
- citycentric
- city chicken
- city clerk
- city council
- city desk
- city district
- city dweller
- city-dweller
- city father
- cityful
- city gent
- city girl
- city hall
- cityhood
- cityish
- cityite
- cityless
- city lights
- citylike
- city limit(s)
- city line
- city man
- cityman
- city manager
- city map
- citymate
- cityness
- city of refuge
- city of seven hills
- city on a hill
- city planning
- city pop
- city room
- cityscape
- cityship
- cityside
- city sim
- city simulator
- city slicker
- city-state
- city state
- city symphony
- city technology college
- city titty
- city upon a hill
- city wall
- cityward
- citywards
- city water
- citywear
- citywide
- closed city
- control city
- core city
- cosmological city
- countercity
- county-level city
- cross-city
- cybercity
- donut city
- doughnut city
- eco-city
- ecocity
- edge city
- fat city
- federal city
- first city
- free city
- freedom of the city
- free imperial city
- free of the city
- gamma city
- garden city
- GeoCity
- gigacity
- Hanseatic city
- hero city
- hidden city
- holy city
- host city
- independent city
- inner city, inner-city
- intercity
- intracity
- Jade City
- key to the city
- megacity
- metropolitan city
- microcity
- million city
- minicity
- monocity
- noncity
- open 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
- subcity
- supercity
- Swea City
- the city
- the city of a thousand windows
- Tricity
- twin city
- uncity
- undercity
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
- Boise 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
- Coal 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
- Dallas 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
- Elk 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
- Gary City
- Gibson City
- Gila City
- Gin City
- Granite City
- Grove City
- Haines City
- Hall City
- Haltom City
- Hamilton City
- Harbor City
- Harris City
- Hartford City
- Highland City
- Highway City
- Hill City
- Hobson City
- Holy City
- Holy Cross City
- Huachuca City
- Ice 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
- Kaw City
- Kenneth City
- Kerr City
- Kettleman City
- King City
- Knox City
- Lagoon City
- Lake City
- Lake Havasu City
- Lardeau City
- Leisure City
- Lincoln 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
- Osage 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
- Ponca 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
- Scott 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
- Strong 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
- Wolfe City
- Yazoo City
- Y City
- Yuba City
- Zama City
- Zip City
Translations
large settlement
|
large amount of something
|
Further reading
- "city" in Raymond Williams, Keywords (revised), 1983, Fontana Press, page 55.
Anagrams
Czech
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): [ˈt͡sɪtɪ]
Finnish
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈsiti/, [ˈs̠it̪i]
Declension
Inflection of city (Kotus type 1/valo, no gradation) | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
nominative | city | cityt | ||
genitive | cityn | cityjen | ||
partitive | cityä | cityjä | ||
illative | cityyn | cityihin | ||
singular | plural | |||
nominative | city | cityt | ||
accusative | nom. | city | cityt | |
gen. | cityn | |||
genitive | cityn | cityjen | ||
partitive | cityä | cityjä | ||
inessive | cityssä | cityissä | ||
elative | citystä | cityistä | ||
illative | cityyn | cityihin | ||
adessive | cityllä | cityillä | ||
ablative | cityltä | cityiltä | ||
allative | citylle | cityille | ||
essive | citynä | cityinä | ||
translative | cityksi | cityiksi | ||
abessive | cityttä | cityittä | ||
instructive | — | cityin | ||
comitative | See the possessive forms below. |
Possessive forms of city (Kotus type 1/valo, no gradation) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Italian
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈsi.ti/[1]
- Rhymes: -iti
Derived terms
- city bike
- city car
- city manager
References
- city in Luciano Canepari, Dizionario di Pronuncia Italiana (DiPI)
Middle English
Swedish
Pronunciation
Audio (file)
Noun
city n
- 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.
- Lite närmare city, i närheten av konstmuseet, ligger Norrköpings mest attraktiva lägenheter.
Usage notes
- centrum is used for the commercial centre of suburbs and small or medium-sized towns.
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