Save Type Political Subdivision & Settlement Usage Japanese Scripts 千葉(Japanese Kanji) ちば(Japanese Hiragana) Pronounced Pron. /t͡ɕi.bä/ [key·simplify] Meaning & History From Japanese 千 (chi) meaning "thousand" and 葉 (ha) meaning "leaf". This is the name of a city in Japan, as well as the prefecture in which the city is located.