market
HSK level
市场 is written with 11 strokes (市: 5, 场: 6). The animation replays automatically.
市场 (shìchǎng) means "market" in both senses English uses.
Literally it is a physical marketplace where goods are sold: 菜市场 (a vegetable/wet market), 超市 comes from the same 市. Abstractly it is "the market" of economics — supply, demand, and buyers for a product: 市场经济 (market economy), 股票市场 (the stock market), 打开市场 (to open up a market), 市场需求 (market demand). This economic sense dominates business and news writing.
The characters are 市 (city / market) and 场 (a field, ground, or venue). Distinguish it from 商场 (shāngchǎng), which is a shopping mall or department store, and from 广场 (guǎngchǎng), a public square or plaza — all three share 场 but refer to very different places.
Note: Neutral; used for both physical markets and abstract economic markets.
Character by character
Memory hook: A 市 (market/city) 场 (ground) = the marketplace.
市场 appears in 3 Fluentide podcast episodes at natural native speed — each with the full Chinese script, pinyin, and line-by-line English translation.
这个产品很受市场欢迎。
Zhège chǎnpǐn hěn shòu shìchǎng huānyíng.
This product is very popular in the market.
neutral
妈妈每天早上去菜市场买菜。
Māma měitiān zǎoshang qù càishìchǎng mǎi cài.
Mom goes to the food market every morning to buy vegetables.
spoken
公司正在开拓海外市场。
Gōngsī zhèngzài kāituò hǎiwài shìchǎng.
The company is expanding into overseas markets.
written
市场对新技术的需求很大。
Shìchǎng duì xīn jìshù de xūqiú hěn dà.
Market demand for the new technology is strong.
written
集市 is a traditional periodic bazaar or country fair. 市场 is the general word for any market, physical or economic.
商场 is a shopping mall or department store with many shops indoors. 市场 is a market — a produce market or the abstract economic market. You buy clothes at a 商场, vegetables at a 菜市场.
广场 is a public square or plaza (天安门广场). 市场 is a market. Both end in 场 but one is open civic space, the other a place of trade.
Acquire it by listening
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