Meaning of 市民
Definitions from CC-CEDICT.
- city resident; townspeople
How to use 市民
市民 is a fairly formal word used in news, government notices, and public announcements to talk about the residents of a city as a group. It often appears in phrases like 广大市民 (guǎngdà shìmín), meaning the general public of a city. Example: 很多市民在公园里散步。(Hěn duō shìmín zài gōngyuán lǐ sànbù.) Many city residents are taking a walk in the park.
市 (shì) means city or market, and 民 (mín) means people, as in 人民 (rénmín). Put them together and you get the people of the city: city residents.
Common mistake: Learners often mix up 市民 (shìmín) with 公民 (gōngmín). 公民 means a citizen of a country with legal rights, while 市民 just means someone living in a city. Also keep the tone of 市 as fourth tone, shì, not shí.
市民 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
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- 2
- 3
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- 5
民 mín · citizens · 5 strokes
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Related words
Words that share a character with 市民.
| 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 |
| 人民 | rénmín | the people |
| 市场 | shìchǎng | marketplace; market; bazaar; (economics) market |
| 公民 | gōngmín | citizen |
| 农民 | nóngmín | peasant; farmer |
| 民族 | mínzú | nationality; ethnic group |
| 民间 | mínjiān | among the people; popular |
| 人民币 | rénmínbì | Renminbi, the official currency of the PRC (currency codes: RMB or CNY) |
| 中华民族 | Zhōnghuá Mínzú | the Chinese nation; the Chinese people (collective reference to all the ethnic groups in C |
| 居民 | jūmín | resident; inhabitant |
Questions about 市民
What does 市民 mean?
市民 (shìmín) means "city resident; townspeople" and is used as a noun.
How do you write 市民?
市民 is made of 2 characters: 市 (5 strokes), 民 (5 strokes). That is 10 strokes in total.
Is 市民 an HSK word?
Yes. 市民 is on the HSK 6 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.
Can I use 市民 to describe myself in everyday conversation?
You can, but it sounds a bit formal. In casual speech people more often say 我住在北京 (wǒ zhù zài Běijīng) or 我是北京人 (wǒ shì Běijīng rén) instead of calling themselves a 市民.
What is the difference between 市民 and 居民 (jūmín)?
居民 means residents of any place, such as a neighborhood, village, or building. 市民 specifically points to people of a city, so it is narrower and often used when a city government addresses its public.