city.
A large settlement, bigger than a town; sometimes with a specific legal definition, depending on the place.
Meaning & usage
A large settlement, bigger than a town; sometimes with a specific legal definition, depending on the place.
São Paulo is the largest city in South America.
A settlement granted special status by royal charter or letters patent; traditionally, a settlement with a cathedral regardless of size.
The central business district; downtown.
I'm going into the city today to do some shopping.
A large amount of something (used after the noun).
It’s video game city in here!
Where this word comes from
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *ḱey-der. Proto-Italic *keiwis Latin ceivis Proto-Indo-European *-teh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-ts Proto-Indo-European *-teh₂ts Proto-Italic *-tāts Latin -tās Latin ceivitās Late Latin cīvitātem (city) Old French citetbor. Middle English cite English city 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 Modern English borough.
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.