市级 (shì jí) — municipal, city-level (used to describe entities, events, or positions at the city administrative tier)

Definition

Municipal-level: describes the administrative tier just below provincial (省级), like 市级领导 or 市级比赛. Use it for cities, not counties (县级) or provinces.

adjective
municipalcity-level (used to describe entities, events, or positions at the city administrative tier)
Easily confused

Examples

  • 市级。
    Tā shì yí wèi shì jí lǐng dǎo.
    He is a city-level leader.
  • 市级。
    Zhè chǎng shì jí bǐ sài xī yǐn le hěn duō rén.
    This municipal competition attracted many people.
  • 市级。
    shì jí Dān wèi xū yào hé shěng jí dān wèi hé zuò.
    City-level agencies need to cooperate with provincial-level agencies.

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.

市shìcity
级jílevel

市 means city and 级 means level; together they describe something at the city level.

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 →

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 級; 级 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
糹Written in full as糸mìthread
Sound part声符shēngfú
及
及jí級jí
Same sound today

The traditional form 級 has 糹 (thread) and 及 as a sound part; its original sense was a sequence related to silk. The simplified 级 is a later shorthand.

Open 级 →

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