街道

街道 (jiēdào) means 'street' — the urban road lined with shops and buildings where people live, walk, and do business. It is a slightly more formal and complete word than 街 (jiē) alone; both refer to streets, but 街道 sounds more like a written description or a category, while 街 (or 大街, 'big street/main street') flows more naturally in casual speech. A second meaning to know: in mainland Chinese administrative geography, 街道 names the smallest urban subdivision (a 'subdistrict'), with its own 街道办事处 ('subdistrict office') handling local affairs.

So a Beijing address might reference both the literal street and the administrative 街道 unit. Streets are counted with 条 (tiáo), the measure word for long, linear things: 一条街道 ('a street'). For the entire road network of a city, learners use 街道 in the abstract sense — 北京的街道很宽 ('Beijing's streets are wide').