HSK 3 · Places

城市 chéngshì “city or town” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 城市 means

  1. city or town
  2. city
  3. town

Measure word 座 zuò · 一座城市 yí zuò chéngshì

How to say 城市

  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale城chéng2nd tone, rising
  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale市shì4th tone, falling

城市 in a sentence

  1. 杭州是一个美丽的城市。

    Hángzhōu shì yí ge měilì de chéngshì.

    Hangzhou is a beautiful city.

    Sentence #1424272 from Tatoeba

  2. 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

  3. 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

How 城市 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.

The character 市 (shì) with each of its parts in a different colour
市shìmarket
  • 亠lid · tóu
  • 巾napkin · jīn

How to write 城市

城 9 strokes · 市 5 strokes

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

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

Words related to 城市

Words with 城

城chéng · city长城Chángchéng · the Great Wall城堡chéngbǎo · castle

Words with 市

市shì · city超市chāoshì · supermarket市场shìchǎng · marketplace

More words: Places & Directions

左边zuǒbian · left side办公室bàngōngshì · office北方běifāng · north超市chāoshì · supermarket地方dìfang · place地铁dìtiě · subway地图dìtú · map电梯diàntī · lift

FAQs

城市 (chéngshì) means “city or town” or “city”. It is an HSK 3 word.
Say it chéngshì: chéng with a 2nd tone, then shì with a 4th tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 城市 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Use 座 (zuò). For example, one city or town is 一座城市 (yí zuò chéngshì).
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type chengshi with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 城市 from the suggestions. Typing chengshi into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
城市 is an HSK 3 word in the 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.