Rapid City

8 2.0

A city in western South Dakota near the Black Hills

proper noun
/ˈræpɪd ˈsɪti/

: Rapid City

Many tourists come to see the attractions in Rapid City each year.

Examples

Heavy snowfall was reported in Rapid City this morning.
Rapid City is often called the gateway to Mount Rushmore.
We spent our summer vacation exploring the attractions around Rapid City.
I visited Rapid City last summer.
Have you ever been to Rapid City?
I visited Rapid City during my vacation in South Dakota.
The conference will be held in Rapid City this summer.

Surface Forms

Rapid City main

Morphology

Rapid + city

This is a place name (toponym); knowing the words 'rapid' and 'city' does not allow a learner to infer the referent 'a specific city in South Dakota' because proper names are arbitrary labels rather than compositional descriptions. Even if a learner knows the adjective 'rapid', the name functions as an identifier not a descriptive phrase, so its specific meaning is not derivable from the constituents.

Etymology

Rapid City may come from the nearby Rapid Creek, a fast stream that flowed through the area when the town began. So the name simply means a 'city by the fast stream', which is why the town is called that today.