市 (shì) — city; market
Definition
市 is used in compound words to mean 'city' (城市, 市区) or 'market' (市场, 超市). On its own it appears in formal names like 上海市. Compare 城市 for everyday 'city' and 市场 for 'market'.
noun
citymarket
Measure word · 个
Easily confused
- 亩mǔlook-alike(classifier) for fields and land area; unit of area equal to about 666.67 m² (1/15 hectare)
- 是shìsound-aliketo be (linking verb, followed by a noun or noun phrase)
- 事shìsound-alikething; matter; affair
- 试shìsound-aliketo try; to test
- 室shìsound-alikeroom (often as a suffix in compound words)
- 式shìsound-alike(suffix) -style; -type; -form; -pattern
Examples
- 。Zhè ge chéng shì zài zhōng guó hěn yǒu míng.This city is very famous in China.
- 。Zhè ge shì chǎng mài hěn duō xīn xiān de shuǐ guǒ hé shū cài.This market sells a lot of fresh fruit and vegetables.
- 。Wǒ zhù zài nà ge chéng shì de shì zhōng xīn.I live in the city center of that city.
Origin
Sound + meaning六书liùshū
形声xíngshēngMost characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.
The old form 市 pairs 兮, meaning bustling, with 之, the sound part.
Appears in
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