urban

B2 Topic:Places & Geography

US /ˈɜɹbən/ UK /ˈɜːb(ə)n/ See IPA manual

Freq #7287

Meanings

1

adj
Relating to or located in a city or town.

More and more people are moving to urban areas for work.
2

adj
Relating to modern Black popular culture, especially in music.

The radio station plays mostly urban music.

Thesaurus

Opposites

bucolicnonurbanrural

Word family

Derived forms antiurbancyburbanexurbinterurbanintraurbanperi-urbanpreurbanrurbansemiurbansynurbanunurbanurban-renew

Related forms urbanus

Appears in

Phrases (4)

See all

urban area
a region that is a city or densely populated town

Adjective + noun
urban park
a park located within a city or town, providing green space for residents

Adjective + noun
urban legend
a widely circulated story often presented as true despite being false or unverified

Adjective + noun
urban sprawl
the spread of connected urban development over a wide area

Adjective + noun

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 p…

*gʰerdʰ- Proto-Indo-European urbānus Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Places & Geography

External links

# urban

**Type:** Word
**Level:** B2
**Part of speech:** adj
**IPA (US):** /ˈɜɹbən/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈɜːb(ə)n/
**Frequency rank:** 7287

## Meanings
1. Relating to or located in a city or town.
2. Relating to modern Black popular culture, especially in music.

## Examples
- More and more people are moving to urban areas for work.
- The radio station plays mostly urban music.

## Antonyms
- bucolic
- nonurban
- rural

## Derived Forms
- antiurban
- cyburban
- exurb
- interurban
- intraurban
- peri-urban
- preurban
- rurban
- semiurban
- synurban
- unurban
- urban-renew

## Related Forms
- urbanus

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: *gʰerdʰ-
- Root: urbānus

## 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 p…

## AI Etymology
Urban is 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). In present-day use, it can mean relating to or located in a city or town, or relating to modern Black popular culture, especially in music. Derived formations include antiurban, cyburban, exurb, interurban, intraurban, peri-urban, preurban, rurban.

## Topics
- Places & Geography

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