市

1. Origins, structure, and basic meaning

• Structure: 市 in this entry is read し and is a noun for a city or its municipal government.
• Basic usage: It can modify something owned or planned by the city, as in 市の計画, or mark another municipality in 隣の市との境.
  • Both 市の計画案には古い公園の修理が含まれていた。 and 地図の点線は隣の市との境を示している。 use 市 for a municipal unit.

2. Common pitfalls and similar expressions

• Place and governing body
  • In 市の計画案, 市 can point not only to the geographic city but also to the municipal authority that drew up the plan. Distinguish those focuses from context.
• Another reading of 市
  • 市 can be read いち when it means a market, but it is read し when it denotes the city-level municipality in this entry.
• 市 and 町
  • 市 denotes a city-level administrative unit, while 町(まち／ちょう) can mean a town, neighborhood, or a different administrative unit. They are not always interchangeable based only on apparent size.