HSK 3.0 Level 4 · Places

城 chéng “city” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 城 means

  1. city
  2. town
  3. city wall
  4. city walls

Measure word 座 zuò or 道 dào · 一座城 yí zuò chéng

How to say 城

  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale城chéng2nd tone, rising

城 in a sentence

  1. 我们知道她住在城里。

    Wǒmen zhīdao tā zhù zài chéng lǐ.

    We know she lives in town.

    Sentence #4761408 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 你最喜欢的城市是什么？

    Nǐ zuì xǐhuan de chéngshì shì shénme?

    What’s your favourite city?

    Sentence #8853809 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 这个城市的交通方便得很。

    Zhè ge chéngshì de jiāotōng fāngbiàn de hěn.

    Transport in this city is very convenient.

    Sentence #474220 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 城 is built

Each colour is one part of the character. Parts repeat across thousands of characters, so learning them makes new words easier. See all 214 in our radicals chart.

The character 城 (chéng) with each of its parts in a different colour
城chéngcity walls
  • 土earth · tǔMeaning part
  • 成to accomplish · chéngSound part

土 hints at the meaning (earth); 成 (chéng) hints at the sound. Compare it with chéng.

How to write 城

城 9 strokes

Watch the order, then press Try writing it and draw each stroke in the grid. Each stroke is checked as you go.

城 (chéng) stroke order chart: each stroke of the character in the order you write it
Stroke order chart for 城 (chéng). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.

Words related to 城

Words with 城

城市chéngshì · city or town长城Chángchéng · the Great Wall城堡chéngbǎo · castle

More words: Places & Getting Around

边biān · side车chē · car电影院diànyǐngyuàn · cinema高铁gāotiě · high-speed rail红绿灯hónglǜdēng · traffic lights检票jiǎnpiào · to check tickets区qū · district步bù · step

FAQs

城 (chéng) means “city” or “town”. It is an HSK 3.0 Level 4 word.
Say it chéng: chéng with a 2nd tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 城 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Use 座 (zuò) or 道 (dào). For example, one city is 一座城 (yí zuò chéng).
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type cheng with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 城 from the suggestions. Typing cheng into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
城 is an HSK 3.0 Level 4 word in the official 2021 syllabus, and it is on our HSK 3.0 Band 6 word list. It is not on the older HSK 2.0 word lists.

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Sources: meaning and pinyin checked by a native Mandarin teacher against the official HSK lists. Extra meanings from CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0). Example sentences from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.