city

…The Japanese word toshi (city) was used in the mid-Meiji period and later, and is often confused with the administrative terms shi (city) and machi (town), but they are completely different concepts. In Japan, the English words town and city are used to translate administrative towns and cities, as well as settlement-based towns and cities, but in the UK, town and city are used with almost the same meaning, and town does not only mean small settlements. In the US, town means a small urban settlement as an administrative district unit, while city refers to a large urban settlement and also has the meaning of citizens and city council. …

*Some of the terminology that mentions "city" is listed below.

Source | Heibonsha World Encyclopedia 2nd Edition | Information

…都市という日本語は明治中期以後の語で，しばしば行政上の市や町と混同されるが，まったく別の概念である。英語のtownとcityは日本では行政上の町と市，および集落単位の町や都市の訳語にも用いられるが，イギリスではtownとcityはほぼ類似の意味で用いられ，とくにtownが小型の集落だけを意味していない。アメリカ合衆国ではtownは行政上の群区の単位としてほぼ小型の都市的集落を意味するが，cityは大型の都市的集落を指すとともに市民や市会の意味をもっている。…

※「city」について言及している用語解説の一部を掲載しています。

出典｜株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典 第２版について | 情報