Dictionaries › English

city

Pronunciation: /ˈsɪti/

The English word “city” has 4 meanings listed here.

noun

  1. A large settlement, bigger than a town; sometimes with a specific legal definition, depending on the place.
  2. A settlement granted special status by royal charter or letters patent; traditionally, a settlement with a cathedral regardless of size.
  3. The central business district; downtown.
  4. A large amount of something (used after the noun).

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English cite, derived from Old French cite, derived from Late Latin cīvitātem (“city”), in Classical Latin "citizenry", derived from cīvis (“fellow-citizen”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ḱey- (“lie down; settle”). Cognate with Old English hīwan pl (“members of one's household, servants”). See hewe. Doublet of civitas. Mostly displaced native Old English burg, whence…

Keep exploring: in the interactive dictionary every word of a definition is a link. Open “city” there

More English words

About this dictionary

The English dictionary on Glottosphere has 650,529 entries with a page. Browse the English dictionary.

Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.