urban

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.

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

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

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

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.

• 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,^[1] 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.^[2]
• "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.^[3]

• urbane (obsolete)

• Urbanus

• “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.

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

urban

1. accusative singular of urba

From Latin urbanus.

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

• Audio:

  (file)

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

1. urban

   Synonym: städtisch

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

From Latin urbanus.

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

1. urban
2. urbane

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

From Latin urbanus.

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

1. urban
2. urbane

• “urban” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

• ürban

From Latin urbānus.

• IPA^(key): /yrˈbaŋ/

urban

1. urban

Borrowed from French urbain, from Latin urbanus.

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

1. urbane

• urbanitate

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

ȕrbān (Cyrillic spelling у̏рба̄н, definite ȕrbānī)

1. urban

Ultimately from Latin urbānus.

• IPA^(key): /urbáːn/

urbȃn (not comparable)

1. urban

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.

• mésten

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