Skip to content

urbe

city

noun OOR-beh Rare
Travel & Places Landmarks

Origin: From Latin urbs, urbis (city), the root of 'urban'.

Also means

metropolis

Usage Note

Urbe is a formal or literary synonym for a large city, with connotations of size and density — more elevated than ciudad. It is feminine despite ending in -e (la urbe). The same Latin root gives Spanish urbano (urban) and urbanismo (urban planning). Used freely in journalism to evoke the scale of a capital or major metropolis.

Examples

"Millones de personas viven en esa gran urbe."

Natural Translation

Millions of people live in that great city.

Explore Spanish by topic