# urban

> English word · Adjective · IPA /ˈɜːb(ə)n/ · frequency rank #2,275

## Definitions
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.
2. Living in a city or town.
3. Having authority or jurisdiction over a city or town.
4. Relating to contemporary African American culture, especially in music.
5. Of an inhabitant or resident: black; African-American.

## 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 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.

## Easily confused with
- **urn** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/urban-vs-urn)
- **urea** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/urban-vs-urea)
- **Usman** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/urban-vs-usman)
- **Uriah** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/urban-vs-uriah)
- **Ural** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/ural-vs-urban)

## Common misspellings (7)
`ruban`, `ubran`, `urabn`, `urbann`, `urbban`, `urbna`, `urrban`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/urban