市 (shì): city

Meanings

1 city
2 market

Characters

市

shì

city; market

Examples

北京市是中国的首都。

Běijīngshì shì Zhōngguó de shǒudū.

Beijing is the capital of China.

我住在上海市。

Wǒ zhù zài Shànghǎishì.

I live in Shanghai.

这个市很小。

Zhège shì hěn xiǎo.

This city is very small.

Tips

usage

市 is the administrative designation for a city. China's four direct-controlled municipalities (直辖市) are Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, and Chongqing.

history

Originally 市 meant 'market/marketplace.' The meaning expanded to 'city' because cities grew around markets.

Components

radical

巾 jīn

cloth; banner

Bottom cloth radical (Kangxi #50) — a pictograph of a piece of fabric hanging down. The indexing radical of 市. Carries the iconography: a cloth banner hung in the marketplace to advertise wares. The whole character is a stylised picture of a stall flag in the market square. Same radical anchors 帆 (sail), 帐 (tent), 布 (cloth), 帝 (emperor — banner-and-platform).

ideograph

亠 tóu

lid; cap (top stroke)

Top lid-shape — a horizontal cap with a small dot above. Here a stylised residue of an older sign-and-banner element from the original 市 picture: a flag at the top of the marketplace. The whole char is indexed under Kangxi #50 巾 (jīn, cloth) — the banner-cloth below.