邑 (yì): city; town (archaic)

Meanings

1 city; town (archaic)
2 fief; feudal estate
3 (historical) feudal subordinate state

Characters

邑

yì

city; town; fief

Examples

古代的邑就是今天的城镇。

Gǔdài de yì jiù shì jīntiān de chéngzhèn.

An yi in ancient times is what we call a town today.

君惠徼福于敝邑之社稷。

Jūn huì jiǎo fú yú bì yì zhī shèjì.

May your lordship invoke fortune upon the altars of our humble state.

Tips

history

In oracle-bone script 邑 is a city wall (囗) over a kneeling person — together depicting an inhabited settlement. In ancient feudal vocabulary 敝邑 ('our humble city/state') is a polite self-reference for one's own state. The character is also one of the 214 Kangxi radicals; in compound characters it appears as the right-side ear-shaped 阝 (e.g. 都, 邦, 郡).

memory

Spot 邑 inside the right-side 阝 in city/region characters: 都 (capital), 邦 (state), 郡 (commandery), 郭 (outer wall) — all carry the 'settlement' meaning from 邑.