county

Noun

1. (countable, historical, uncountable) The land ruled by a count or a countess.
2. (countable, uncountable) An administrative or geographical region of various countries, including Bhutan, Canada, China, Croatia, Ireland, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Romania, South Korea, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and 47 of the 50 United States (excluding Alaska, Connecticut, and Louisiana).
3. (countable, uncountable) A definitive geographic region, without direct administrative functions.
4. (US, slang, uncountable) A jail operated by a county government.

Adj

Characteristic of a ‘county family’; representative of the gentry or aristocracy of a county.

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈkaʊnti/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: countee

Cognate with Spanish: condado

Cognate with Italian: contea

In summary

From Middle English countee, counte, conte, from Anglo-Norman counté, Old French conté (French comté), from Latin comitātus (“jurisdiction of a count”), from comes (“count, earl”). Cognate with Spanish condado (“county”) and Italian contea (“county”). Doublet of comitatus, borrowed directly from Latin. Mostly displaced native Old English sċīr, whence Modern English shire.

Synonyms

province

shire

district

subdivision

canton

region

state

territory

earldom

department

municipal

municipality

parish

precinct

prefecture

statute

town

🏙️

township

comitat

admistrative

archdiocese

ecclesiastical unit

borough

circle

⭕

circumference

comitatus

commune

county court

demesne

division

law

Translations

comté

contea

condado

Grafschaft

condado

κομητεία

graafschap

comtat

επαρχία

Landkreis

département

hrabstwo

powiat

provincia

County

Sentences

See article Warwick County , Virginia .

It is the county flower of the English county of Cheshire .

Enniskillen is the county town and largest in both size and population .

It is the second-largest county by area in Kentucky .

Partridge was born in Norway , Maine , a town in Oxford County .

McCreary County is the only Kentucky county to not have a single incorporated city .