Meaning of 市区
Definitions from CC-CEDICT.
- urban district
- downtown
- city center
How to use 市区
市区 refers to the urban part of a city, as opposed to the suburbs (郊区 jiāoqū) or the countryside. It is common when talking about where you live, traffic, or housing prices. Example: 我住在市区，上班很方便。(Wǒ zhù zài shìqū, shàngbān hěn fāngbiàn.) I live in the city center, so getting to work is convenient.
市 (shì) means city or market, and 区 (qū) means district or area. Put them together and you get the city area, the built-up part of town where the markets and shops are.
Common mistake: Learners sometimes write 市 with the top dot and horizontal stroke wrong, or confuse it with 币 (bì, currency), which has no dot on top. Also, 市区 is not the same as 地区 (dìqū), which means a general region and can be much larger than a city.
市区 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Stroke order for each character
Open a character for its meaning, components and more words.
市 shì · market · 5 strokes
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
区 qū · area · 4 strokes
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
Related words
Words that share a character with 市区.
| 市长 | shìzhǎng | mayor |
| 超市 | chāoshì | supermarket (abbr. for 超級市場|超级市场[chao1 ji2 shi4 chang3]) |
| 城市 | chéngshì | city; town |
| 地区 | dìqū | region; area (informal or geographical term); prefecture (in China's administrative system |
| 市场 | shìchǎng | marketplace; market; bazaar; (economics) market |
| 区别 | qūbié | difference; to distinguish |
| 区域 | qūyù | area; region |
| 社区 | shèqū | community; neighborhood |
| 郊区 | jiāoqū | suburban district; outskirts; suburbs |
| 山区 | shānqū | mountain area |
| 灾区 | zāiqū | disaster area; stricken region |
| 市民 | shìmín | city resident; townspeople |
Questions about 市区
What does 市区 mean?
市区 (shìqū) means "urban district; downtown" and is used as a noun.
How do you write 市区?
市区 is made of 2 characters: 市 (5 strokes), 区 (4 strokes). That is 9 strokes in total.
Is 市区 an HSK word?
Yes. 市区 is on the HSK 4 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.
How is 市区 written in traditional Chinese?
In traditional characters, 市区 is written 市區.
What is the difference between 市区 and 市中心?
市中心 (shì zhōngxīn) means the very center of the city. 市区 is broader and covers the whole urban area, not just the central core.
How do I say I am going downtown using 市区?
You can say 我去市区 (wǒ qù shìqū) or 我要进城 (wǒ yào jìn chéng). Both are natural, and 进城 is a bit more casual.