城 chéng — a city wall; a walled city; a city, a town
chéng (second tone, rising)
a city wall; a walled city; a city, a town
9 strokesRadical 土Frequency #331
Pinyin
- chéng (second tone, rising)
a city wall; a walled city; a city, a town
Character breakdown
Ideographic description
⿰土成The sequence reads left to right and describes how the parts are arranged.
- 土meaning partno entry yetEarth: city walls were built of rammed earth, layer beaten on layer.
- 成sound partno entry yet成 chéng for the sound; its own meaning, "to complete", suits a wall closed all the way round.
Mnemonic
Earth 土 with 成 chéng beside it for the sound. The word named the rammed-earth wall first and the place behind it second — a Chinese city was its wall. Both senses are alive: 长城 the Great Wall, 城市 a city, 城里 in town, 进城 to go into town.
A memory aid written by HSK Guide editors. It is not an etymology and does not describe the historical origin of the character.
Words containing 城
- 城市chéngshì (second tone, rising)city, town
- 城chéng (second tone, rising)city walls
- 城镇城鎮chéng (second tone, rising) zhèn (fourth tone, falling)town
- 城里城裡chénglǐ (second tone, rising)In the city
- 城堡chéng (second tone, rising) bǎo (third tone, dipping)castle
- 长城長城Cháng (second tone, rising) chéng (second tone, rising)the Great Wall
- 城墙城牆chéng (second tone, rising) qiáng (second tone, rising)city wall
- 城区城區chéng (second tone, rising) qū (first tone, high and level)city district
- 商城shāng (first tone, high and level) chéng (second tone, rising)shopping center
- 城乡城鄉chéng (second tone, rising) xiāng (first tone, high and level)city and countryside
- 众志成城眾志成城zhòng (fourth tone, falling) zhì (fourth tone, falling) chéng (second tone, rising) chéng (second tone, rising)unity of will is an impregnable stronghold (idiom)