urban

See also: Urban

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French urbain (“belonging to a city, urban; courteous, refined, urbane”) (modern French urbain), or from its etymon Latin urbānus (“of or belonging to a city, urban; of manners or style: like those of city dwellers: cultivated, polished, refined, sophisticated”) + English -an (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’ forming adjectives). Urbānus is derived from urbs (“city; walled town; Rome”) (further etymology uncertain, possibly from Proto-Indo-European *gʰerdʰ- (“to encircle, enclose; a belt; an enclosure, fence”) or *werbʰ- (“to enclose”)) + -ānus (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’ forming adjectives).

For the euphemistic or proscribed term, it was coined by New York radio DJ Frankie Crocker in the early to mid-1970s as a synonym for Black music.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈɜːb(ə)n/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈɜɹbən/
• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)bən
• Hyphenation: urb‧an

Adjective

urban (comparative more urban, superlative most urban)

1. Of, pertaining to, characteristic of, or happening or located in, a city or town; of, pertaining to, or characteristic of life in such a place, especially when contrasted with the countryside.

   urban life    urban traffic

   • 2013 May 10, Audrey Garric, “Urban canopies let nature bloom”, in The Guardian Weekly‎^[4], volume 188, number 22, page 30:

     As towns continue to grow, replanting vegetation has become a form of urban utopia and green roofs are spreading fast. Last year 1m square metres of plant-covered roofing was built in France, as much as in the US, and 10 times more than in Germany, the pioneer in this field. In Paris 22 hectares of roof have been planted, out of a potential total of 80 hectares.

2. Living in a city or town.
   • 1601, C[aius] Plinius Secundus [i.e., Pliny the Elder], “[Book XVIII.] Of Iugerum, and Actus. Of the Ancient Lawes Ordained for Cattell in Old Time. How Often and at what Times Corn and Victuals were Exceeding Cheape at Rome. What Noble and Famous Persons Addicted Themselves Wholly to Husbandrie and Tillage..”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Historie of the World. Commonly Called, The Naturall Historie of C. Plinius Secundus. […], 1st tome, London: […] Adam Islip, →OCLC, pages 550–551:

     Inſomuch, as thoſe citizens vvere reputed for cheeſe and principall, vvho vvere poſſeſſed of land and living in the countrey: and theſe made the State, called the Ruſtick Tribes, in Rome: vvheras contrarivviſe the other eſtate, reputed the meaner in degree, vvas named the Vrbane Tribes; conſiſting of Artiſanes & ſuch like as vvere not landed perſons: into vvhich, if a man vvere transferred from any of the reſt, it vvas thought a great ſhame and diſgrace, as if hee vvere reproched for idleneſſe and negligence in husbandrie.

   • 1607, Conradus Gesnerus [i.e., Conrad Gessner], Edward Topsell, “Of the Vulgar Little Mouse”, in The Historie of Foure-footed Beastes. […], London: […] William Iaggard, →OCLC, page 504:

     The Epithets of myce are thes; ſhort, ſmall, fearful, peaceable, ridiculous, ruſtik, or country mouſe, vrbane, or citty mouſe, […]

3. Having authority or jurisdiction over a city or town.
   • 1651, James Howell, “Of Officers or Magistrats in Generall”, in S.P.Q.V.: A Survay of the Signorie of Venice, […], London: […] Richard Lowndes […], →OCLC, page 16:

     All theſe Magiſtrats are but temporary, and have a time limited them; the Urbane or Citty Magiſtrats ſome of them continue in office 6. months, others 8. months, others are annuall; […]

4. (US, proscribed, outdated) Relating to contemporary African American culture, especially in music.
5. (US, UK, euphemistic, offensive) (of inhabitants or residents) Black; African American.

Usage notes

• The word "urban" in a musical context came to be controversial and it was described as perpetuating and reinforcing the racial stereotyping of black communities, especially black musicians, and as a "catchall for music created by Black artists, regardless of genre", leading to the music industry's replacement of it with more appropriate terms.
• "Urban" as a descriptor of black inhabitants or residents is an offensive and stereotypical usage; see Dictionary.com's "Historical usage of urban" for the explanation.

Alternative forms

• urbane (obsolete)

Antonyms

• bucolic
• nonurban
• rural

 

Coordinate terms

• exurban
• suburban

 

Derived terms

• antiurban
• cyburban
• exurb
• interurban
• intraurban
• peri-urban
• preurban
• rurban
• semiurban
• single-point urban interchange
• synurban
• unurban
• urban blight
• urban boarding
• urban contemporary
• urban crawl
• urban culture
• urban district
• urban dweller
• urban exploration
• urban explorer
• urban fabric
• urban fantasy
• urban fee
• urban furniture
• urbanicity
• urbanish
• urbanism
• urbanist
• urbanistic
• urbanite
• urbanitis
• urbanity
• urbanization, urbanisation
• urbanize, urbanise
• urban legend
• urban lumberjack
• urban mine
• urban mining
• urban myth
• urban Naxal
• urbanness
• urbanoid
• urbanology
• urbanonym
• urbanophilic
• urban planner
• urban planning
• urban prairie
• urban prairie
• urban regeneration
• urban-renew
• urban renew
• urban renewal
• urban renewed
• urban-renewed
• urban reserve
• urban-rural commune
• urban-rural gmina
• urban sanitary district
• urbanscape
• urban scattering
• urban sprawl
• urban studies
• urban-type settlement
• urban warfare
• urban warrior
• Whitchurch Urban

 

Translations

of, pertaining to, characteristic of, or happening or located in, a city or town; of, pertaining to, or characteristic of life in such a place

• Arabic: حَضَرِيّ (ḥaḍariyy), مَدَنِيّ (madaniyy)
• Armenian: քաղաքային (hy) (kʻaġakʻayin)
• Basque: hiriko
• Belarusian: гарадскі́ (haradskí), ме́скі (mjéski)
• Breton: ^{(please verify)} kêr (br) (noun in apposition), ^{(please verify)} kêrel (adjective)
• Bulgarian: гра́дски (bg) (grádski)
• Burmese: မြို့ပြ (my) (mrui.pra.)
• Catalan: urbà (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 城市的 (zh) (chéngshì de), 都市的 (zh) (dūshì de)

• Czech: městský (cs)
• Danish: bymæssig
• Dutch: stedelijk (nl), urbaan (nl), stads-
• Esperanto: urba
• Finnish: urbaani (fi)
• French: urbain (fr), citadin (fr) (of a person)
• Galician: urbano (gl)
• German: städtisch (de), urban (de), Stadt- (de)
• Greek: αστικός (el) m (astikós)
• Hebrew: עירוני m (ironí)
• Hungarian: városi (hu)
• Irish: uirbeach
• Italian: urbano (it) m
• Japanese: 都市の (ja) (としの, toshi no)
• Kashubian: miesczi
• Korean: 도시의 (ko) (dosiui)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: شارستانی (şaristanî)

• Kyrgyz: шаардык (ky) (şaardık)
• Latin: urbānus (la)
• Macedonian: градски (gradski)
• Manx: ard-valjagh
• Norwegian: urban

  Bokmål: bymessig (no)

• Persian: شهری (fa) (šahri)
• Polish: miejski (pl)
• Portuguese: urbano (pt)
• Punjabi: ਨਾਗਰਿਕ (nāgrik), ਸ਼ਹਿਰੀ (pa) (śahirī)
• Romanian: urban (ro)
• Russian: городско́й (ru) (gorodskój)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: гра̀дскӣ

  Roman: gràdskī (sh)

• Slovak: mestský (sk)
• Slovene: mesten
• Spanish: urbano (es)
• Swedish: stads- (sv), urban (sv)
• Tagalog: panlungsod, panlunsod, lunsurin
• Tajik: шаҳрӣ (šahri)
• Telugu: నగర (nagara)
• Turkish: kentsel (tr)
• Ukrainian: міськи́й (uk) (misʹkýj)
• Vietnamese: thành phố (vi), đô thị (vi), thành thị (vi)
• Welsh: trefol (cy)
• Yiddish: שטאָטיש (shtotish)

living in a city or town

having authority or jurisdiction over a city or town

See also

• Urbanus

Further reading

• “urban”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• urban in Keywords for Today: A 21st Century Vocabulary, edited by The Keywords Project, Colin MacCabe, Holly Yanacek, 2018.
• Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary, Springfield, Massachusetts, G.&C. Merriam Co., 1967
• “urban”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Anagrams

• Braun, Buran, Rabun, aburn, buran, unabr., unbar

Esperanto

Adjective

urban

1. accusative singular of urba

German

Etymology

From Latin urbanus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʊʁˈbaːn/, [ʊɐ̯ˈbaːn]
• Rhymes: -aːn

• Audio:

  (file)

Adjective

urban (strong nominative masculine singular urbaner, comparative urbaner, superlative am urbansten)

1. urban

   Synonym: städtisch

Declension

Positive forms of urban

number & gender		singular			plural
		masculine	feminine	neuter
predicative		er ist urban	sie ist urban	es ist urban	sie sind urban
strong declension (without article)	nominative	urbaner	urbane	urbanes	urbane
	genitive	urbanen	urbaner	urbanen	urbaner
	dative	urbanem	urbaner	urbanem	urbanen
	accusative	urbanen	urbane	urbanes	urbane
weak declension (with definite article)	nominative	der urbane	die urbane	das urbane	die urbanen
	genitive	des urbanen	der urbanen	des urbanen	der urbanen
	dative	dem urbanen	der urbanen	dem urbanen	den urbanen
	accusative	den urbanen	die urbane	das urbane	die urbanen
mixed declension (with indefinite article)	nominative	ein urbaner	eine urbane	ein urbanes	(keine) urbanen
	genitive	eines urbanen	einer urbanen	eines urbanen	(keiner) urbanen
	dative	einem urbanen	einer urbanen	einem urbanen	(keinen) urbanen
	accusative	einen urbanen	eine urbane	ein urbanes	(keine) urbanen

Comparative forms of urban

number & gender		singular			plural
		masculine	feminine	neuter
predicative		er ist urbaner	sie ist urbaner	es ist urbaner	sie sind urbaner
strong declension (without article)	nominative	urbanerer	urbanere	urbaneres	urbanere
	genitive	urbaneren	urbanerer	urbaneren	urbanerer
	dative	urbanerem	urbanerer	urbanerem	urbaneren
	accusative	urbaneren	urbanere	urbaneres	urbanere
weak declension (with definite article)	nominative	der urbanere	die urbanere	das urbanere	die urbaneren
	genitive	des urbaneren	der urbaneren	des urbaneren	der urbaneren
	dative	dem urbaneren	der urbaneren	dem urbaneren	den urbaneren
	accusative	den urbaneren	die urbanere	das urbanere	die urbaneren
mixed declension (with indefinite article)	nominative	ein urbanerer	eine urbanere	ein urbaneres	(keine) urbaneren
	genitive	eines urbaneren	einer urbaneren	eines urbaneren	(keiner) urbaneren
	dative	einem urbaneren	einer urbaneren	einem urbaneren	(keinen) urbaneren
	accusative	einen urbaneren	eine urbanere	ein urbaneres	(keine) urbaneren

Superlative forms of urban

number & gender		singular			plural
		masculine	feminine	neuter
predicative		er ist am urbansten	sie ist am urbansten	es ist am urbansten	sie sind am urbansten
strong declension (without article)	nominative	urbanster	urbanste	urbanstes	urbanste
	genitive	urbansten	urbanster	urbansten	urbanster
	dative	urbanstem	urbanster	urbanstem	urbansten
	accusative	urbansten	urbanste	urbanstes	urbanste
weak declension (with definite article)	nominative	der urbanste	die urbanste	das urbanste	die urbansten
	genitive	des urbansten	der urbansten	des urbansten	der urbansten
	dative	dem urbansten	der urbansten	dem urbansten	den urbansten
	accusative	den urbansten	die urbanste	das urbanste	die urbansten
mixed declension (with indefinite article)	nominative	ein urbanster	eine urbanste	ein urbanstes	(keine) urbansten
	genitive	eines urbansten	einer urbansten	eines urbansten	(keiner) urbansten
	dative	einem urbansten	einer urbansten	einem urbansten	(keinen) urbansten
	accusative	einen urbansten	eine urbanste	ein urbanstes	(keine) urbansten

Further reading

• “urban” in Duden online
• “urban” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From Latin urbanus.

Adjective

urban (neuter singular urbant, definite singular and plural urbane)

1. urban
2. urbane

References

• “urban” in The Bokmål Dictionary.
• “urban” in Det Norske Akademis ordbok (NAOB).

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From Latin urbanus.

Adjective

urban (neuter singular urbant, definite singular and plural urbane)

1. urban
2. urbane

References

• “urban” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Piedmontese

Alternative forms

• ürban

Etymology

From Latin urbānus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /yrˈbaŋ/

Adjective

urban

1. urban

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French urbain, from Latin urbanus.

Adjective

urban m or n (feminine singular urbană, masculine plural urbani, feminine and neuter plural urbane)

1. urbane

Declension

		singular				plural
		masculine	neuter	feminine		masculine	neuter	feminine
nominative- accusative	indefinite	urban		urbană		urbani	urbane
	definite	urbanul		urbana		urbanii	urbanele
genitive- dative	indefinite	urban		urbane		urbani	urbane
	definite	urbanului		urbanei		urbanilor	urbanelor

Related terms

• urbanitate

Serbo-Croatian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ûrbaːn/
• Hyphenation: ur‧ban

Adjective

ȕrbān (Cyrillic spelling у̏рба̄н, definite ȕrbānī)

1. urban

Declension

indefinite forms

singular		masculine	feminine	neuter
nominative		urban	urbana	urbano
genitive		urbana	urbane	urbana
dative		urbanu	urbanoj	urbanu
accusative	inanimate animate	urban urbana	urbanu	urbano
vocative		urban	urbana	urbano
locative		urbanu	urbanoj	urbanu
instrumental		urbanim	urbanom	urbanim
plural		masculine	feminine	neuter
nominative		urbani	urbane	urbana
genitive		urbanih	urbanih	urbanih
dative		urbanim(a)	urbanim(a)	urbanim(a)
accusative		urbane	urbane	urbana
vocative		urbani	urbane	urbana
locative		urbanim(a)	urbanim(a)	urbanim(a)
instrumental		urbanim(a)	urbanim(a)	urbanim(a)

definite forms

singular		masculine	feminine	neuter
nominative		urbani	urbana	urbano
genitive		urbanog(a)	urbane	urbanog(a)
dative		urbanom(u/e)	urbanoj	urbanom(u/e)
accusative	inanimate animate	urbani urbanog(a)	urbanu	urbano
vocative		urbani	urbana	urbano
locative		urbanom(e/u)	urbanoj	urbanom(e/u)
instrumental		urbanim	urbanom	urbanim
plural		masculine	feminine	neuter
nominative		urbani	urbane	urbana
genitive		urbanih	urbanih	urbanih
dative		urbanim(a)	urbanim(a)	urbanim(a)
accusative		urbane	urbane	urbana
vocative		urbani	urbane	urbana
locative		urbanim(a)	urbanim(a)	urbanim(a)
instrumental		urbanim(a)	urbanim(a)	urbanim(a)

Slovene

Etymology

Ultimately from Latin urbānus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /urbáːn/

Adjective

urbȃn (not comparable)

1. urban

Inflection

The diacritics used in this section of the entry are non-tonal. If you are a native tonal speaker, please help by adding the tonal marks.

Hard
	masculine	feminine	neuter
nom. sing.	urbán	urbána	urbáno
singular
	masculine	feminine	neuter
nominative	urbán ind urbáni def	urbána	urbáno
genitive	urbánega	urbáne	urbánega
dative	urbánemu	urbáni	urbánemu
accusative	nominativeinan or genitiveanim	urbáno	urbáno
locative	urbánem	urbáni	urbánem
instrumental	urbánim	urbáno	urbánim
dual
	masculine	feminine	neuter
nominative	urbána	urbáni	urbáni
genitive	urbánih	urbánih	urbánih
dative	urbánima	urbánima	urbánima
accusative	urbána	urbáni	urbáni
locative	urbánih	urbánih	urbánih
instrumental	urbánima	urbánima	urbánima
plural
	masculine	feminine	neuter
nominative	urbáni	urbáne	urbána
genitive	urbánih	urbánih	urbánih
dative	urbánim	urbánim	urbánim
accusative	urbáne	urbáne	urbána
locative	urbánih	urbánih	urbánih
instrumental	urbánimi	urbánimi	urbánimi

Synonyms

• mésten

Further reading

• “urban”, in Slovarji Inštituta za slovenski jezik Frana Ramovša ZRC SAZU (in Slovene), 2014–2024