City
nounA large, important town with a substantial population and its own local government.
How to spell city
4 letters · 2 syllables
How to pronounce city
Say the part in capitals loudest.
What does city mean?
- nounA large, important town with a substantial population and its own local government.
City in a sentence
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The train into the city takes about forty minutes from here.
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Rents in the city centre rose sharply last year.
Where does city come from?
Language of origin: Latin
The word comes from the Latin civitas, which meant not the buildings or streets but the body of citizens that made up a community, formed from civis, meaning 'citizen'. It travelled into English through Old French cite during the 1200s, at first describing an important town, especially a cathedral town or seat of a bishop. Over time the sense shifted from the people to the place, settling on the large, densely built-up settlement we mean today. The same civis root still lives inside familiar relatives such as 'civic', 'civil', and 'citizen', which helps explain why the word begins with the soft c and the letter i. The simple ending hides that history: the double-i pattern (ci-ty) is regular, but the silent connection to civitas is the memory hook.
How the word is built
- cit- (from Latin civis: citizen, civitas: community of citizens)
- -y (noun suffix)
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