Is there a word in English for "city-mate"? I mean a person who lives in the same city as another person.
"Fellow-citizen" refers to a country, not city. So it's not a good equivalent.
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1There are lots of written instances of fellow townsman and fellow townspeople, but fellow cityman is virtually unknown. Avoid it!– FumbleFingersCommented Oct 2, 2023 at 19:39
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4...cities are usually well-known enough that you can reasonably name the relevant city: fellow Londoners, fellow Dubliners,...– FumbleFingersCommented Oct 2, 2023 at 19:43
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2Cities can have citizens. I have about 200,000 fellow citizens of Bristol (or fellow Bristol citizens). In 2012 the citizens of Bristol decided, in a citywide referendum, to introduce a mayoral model of governance. (University of Bristol). Historical note: in 2022 the city had another referendum and voted to cancel the 2012 one, and go back to a committee model of governance.– Michael HarveyCommented Oct 2, 2023 at 19:55
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1There is no generic term of address that you could use to hail a person who hails from the same metropolis. It would have to use the name of the city: New Yorker, Philadelphian, Bostonian, Londoner, Bristolite, Angelino, San Franciscan, Altantan, and some cities don't lend themselves to it: Minneapolitan? St Petersburgian?– TimR on some deviceCommented Oct 2, 2023 at 20:48
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3@MichaelHarvey Nothing wrong with it. Just pointing out that it doesn't have the narrow meaning OP was after. A Londoner could say it of a Geordie, a Philadelphian of a Minnesotan.– TimR on some deviceCommented Oct 2, 2023 at 22:00
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2 Answers
I can't think of a single term that means that, but one natural way of expressing it is with "fellow" plus the demonym for the hometown itself:
Jim and his fellow Torontonian, Bob...
Ayşe and Fetih are fellow Istanbullus.
The second sentence is ambiguous, and could mean either that Ayşe and Fetih are both from Istanbul, or that they and the speaker are all from Istanbul.
If you don't mention the hometown's name, most natural is just a description:
They have the same hometown.
They come from the same city.
They live in the same village.
A denizen is someone who lives in a particular place, so you could refer to a person who lives in your city as a "fellow denizen". The word sounds a little odd with specifying what locale you're referring to, as there's no "default" level like country for citizen, so you might greet them as "fellow denizen of <place name>".
That said, "citizen" need not refer to country explicitly, although that is a common usage. "Citizen" could be used in a legal sense to refer to a person with particular rights in a certain country, or in a more general sense to describe someone who lives in a particular place, which need not be at the country level. Greeting a "fellow citizen" would usually be interpreted in the general sense that doesn't require knowing the legal status of the person being spoken to, and need not imply much more than physical co-location in some level of administrative unit.
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1Speaking personally as an elderly UK speaker with a taste for the Victorian, even I would see 'denizen' as severely old-fashioned, literary and formal, and mainly confined to expressions like 'denizens of the deep' (i.e. fish) and the like. Commented Oct 3, 2023 at 20:02
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1@MichaelHarvey Very much agree from a younger American perspective. I don't think I've ever heard it in conversation, and have only seen it rarely even in literature. "Hello fellow denizen" would be an unusual thing to say, with similar vibes as the oft-memed "how do you do, fellow kids?". Commented Oct 4, 2023 at 13:05