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城内 (chéng nèi) — inside the city; within the city walls

Definition

城内 means 'inside the city' (within city walls or the urban core). It is a fixed noun phrase, almost always paired with its opposite 城外 ('outside the city').

noun
inside the citywithin the city walls

Examples

  • 城内，。
    Wǒ zhù zài chéng nèi, shàng bān hěn fāng biàn.
    I live inside the city, so commuting is very convenient.
  • 城内。
    chéng nèi Yǒu hěn duō gǔ lǎo de jiàn zhù.
    There are many ancient buildings inside the city.
  • 城内。
    Cóng chéng nèi dào chéng wài kāi chē zhǐ yào èr shí fēn zhōng.
    It only takes twenty minutes by car from inside the city to outside the city.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

城chéngcity
内nèiinside

城 denotes city and 内 denotes inside, together referring to the inside of a city.

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
土土tǔsoil
Sound part声符shēngfú
成
成chéng城chéng
Same sound today

城 pairs 土 (soil) with 成 as a sound part, because city walls were originally made of stamped earth.

Open 城 →

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

  • 入入rùto enter
  • 冂冂jiōnghouse

The shape shows 入 entering into 冂, a house, so it pictures bringing something indoors, giving the sense inside.

Open 内 →
Appears in
City & Urban

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