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市井 (shì jǐng) — marketplace; town (literary); the streets (as a setting for everyday common life)

Definition

Literary word for the marketplace and ordinary street life — almost always used in set phrases like 市井生活 or 市井小民 ('common folk'). It's a written/elevated term, not used to talk about a literal town in everyday speech.

noun
marketplacetown (literary)the streets (as a setting for everyday common life)

Examples

  • 市井。
    Zhè bù xiǎo shuō shēng dòng dì miáo huì le shì jǐng shēng huó.
    This novel vividly depicts marketplace life.
  • 市井，。
    shì jǐng Xiǎo mín de rì zi suī rán xīn kǔ, què chōng mǎn rén qíng wèi.
    The days of common marketplace folk are hard but full of human warmth.
  • 市井。
    Zhè ge gù shi fā shēng zài gǔ dài shì jǐng zhī zhōng.
    This story takes place in an ancient marketplace.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
联合liánhéCoordinate

Two parts of equal weight, alike or opposite in meaning, standing side by side.

市shìmarket
井jǐngwell

The word evokes the 市, or market, and the 井, or well, where townspeople gathered.

Characters in this word

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
兮兮xībustling
Sound part声符shēngfú
之
之zhī市shì
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The old form 市 pairs 兮, meaning bustling, with 之, the sound part.

Open 市 →

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

The shape of 井 draws a square well with supports on four sides.

Open 井 →
Appears in
City & UrbanShopping & Errands

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