城 (chéng) is a Chinese character meaning “city”. It is written from 土 (earth; soil) and 成 (to become; to complete), side by side, and takes 9 strokes.
Build the character for “city”
Four steps: break it apart, build it, recall it, use it in a word.
StartLearn this character
Structure
土 + 成
Left–right structure
Structure from: modern glyph decomposition verified against hanzi-writer-data stroke geometry; radical from Unicode Unihan
Memory aid
Use earth (土) to form (成) the walls of a city (城).
This is a memory aid, not the historical origin.
Stroke order
9 strokes
In real words
- 城市chéng shìcity城 = chéng
- 县城xiàn chéngcounty town; county seat城 = chéng
- 城邑chéng yìtown; walled settlement城 = chéng
- 长城cháng chéngthe Great Wall城 = chéng
- 京城jīng chéngthe capital city城 = chéng
- 城郭chéng guōcity walls; a walled city城 = chéng
- 城隅chéng yúcorner of a city wall城 = chéng
- 彭城péng chéngPengcheng, the ancient name of Xuzhou城 = chéng
Go deeper
All readings
city; town; city wall
city; town; city wall
城市；城墙。 — studyhanzi 编写
Words with this reading
- 城市chéng shìcity城 = chéng
- 县城xiàn chéngcounty town; county seat城 = chéng
- 城邑chéng yìtown; walled settlement城 = chéng
- 长城cháng chéngthe Great Wall城 = chéng
- 京城jīng chéngthe capital city城 = chéng
- 城郭chéng guōcity walls; a walled city城 = chéng
- 城隅chéng yúcorner of a city wall城 = chéng
- 彭城péng chéngPengcheng, the ancient name of Xuzhou城 = chéng
Stroke data: hanzi-writer-data (Arphic Public License) · licenses & attributions
Questions people ask about this character
What does 城 mean?
城 (chéng) means city; town; city wall.
How do you pronounce 城?
It is pronounced chéng.
What parts is 城 made of?
土 (earth; soil) and 成 (to become; to complete), side by side. The recorded source is: modern glyph decomposition verified against hanzi-writer-data stroke geometry; radical from Unicode Unihan. Components are the building blocks of the shape; the radical used for dictionary lookup is a separate thing.
How many strokes does 城 have?
9. You can watch the stroke order on this page, or trace it yourself.
What is the radical of 城?
土. The radical is how the character is filed in a dictionary — it is not the whole story of how the character is built.
What words use 城?
Common ones are 城市. The reading of 城 is not the same in every word, so each word on this page shows which reading applies.