城市

城市 (chéngshì) is the Chinese word for 'city' — an urban settlement, as opposed to a village or countryside area. It applies to anything from a small prefecture-level city to a megacity like Beijing or Shanghai. The character 城 originally meant 'city wall,' a reminder that ancient Chinese cities were defined by their fortifications, while 市 meant 'market' — together, the walled-and-marketed place where people lived and traded.

Two notes for English speakers: first, 城市 is the neutral category noun ('what kind of place is it? a city'), while specific city names take 市 as a suffix (北京市, 上海市). Second, 城市 contrasts with 农村 (nóngcūn, countryside/rural area), and this urban–rural pair is a major social and economic theme in modern China.