市区 (shì qū) — city center, downtown, urban district | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

市区 is the downtown or urban core of a city — the busy central area. It refers to a district within a city, while 城市 names the city as a whole.

noun

city centerdowntownurban district

Measure word · 个

Examples

市区。
Wǒ qù shì qū mǎi dōng xī.
I'm going downtown to go shopping.
市区。
shì qū Yǒu hěn duō shāng diàn hé fàn guǎn.
The city center has many shops and restaurants.
市区。
Tā měi tiān zuò dì tiě qù shì qū shàng bān.
He takes the subway downtown to work every day.

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.

区qūdistrict

市区 combines 市 (city) and 区 (district) to name the urban part 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

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.

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 區; 区 is its simplified writing.

匸匸xì
品品pǐn

The traditional form 區 is made from 匸 and 品; the simplified 区 is a shorthand.

Appears in

HSK 3.0 Level 4 City & Urban

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