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prefecture

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prefecture

  • /ˈpɹiːfɛkt͡ʃə/ UK
  • /ˈpɹiːfɛktjʊə/ UK
  • /ˈpɹiˌfɛkt͡ʃəɹ/ US
  • /ˈpɹɛfɛkt͡ʃəɹ/ obsolete

Where it comes from

Borrowed from Middle French préfecture, from Latin praefectūra. Equivalent to prefect + -ure. As an East Asian administrative division, a calque of Chinese 府 (fǔ) and 郡 (jùn), also used to describe 縣 /县 (xian, “county”) and 州 (zhou, “province”) in some eras.

noun prefectures · præfecture

  1. The office or position of a prefect.
  2. The jurisdiction of a prefect; the region administered by a prefect, especially as a translation of certain French, Chinese, and Japanese administrative divisions. The top anti-corruption watchdog in Southwest China’s Yunnan province said on Friday the governor of the burgeoning aluminium hub of Wenshan had been placed under investigation. Zhang Xiulan, who has been governor of Wenshan prefecture since March 2015, is suspected of “grave violations of disciplin

    Similar: jun, fu, chun, foo, commandery

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: governorate, government, district, prefect, province, provincial, cantonal, conservative, provinces, mandate, guard, conservation, boycott, boycotting, maintenance, tei

Translations

Every language

noun The office of a prefect

Españolprefectura
DeutschPräfektur
Românăprefectură
Русскийпрефекту́ра prefektúra
العربيةمَبْنَى الْوِلَايَة mabnā l-wilāya

noun The district governed by a prefect

Españolprefectura
한국어현 hyeon, 도도부현 dodobuhyeon
日本語県 ken, 府 fu, 都道府県 to-dō-fu-ken
中文郡 jùn, 地區 /地区 dìqū, 都道府縣 /都道府县 dūdàofǔxiàn, 省 shěng, 縣 /县 xiàn
Portuguêsprefeitura
Françaispréfecture
DeutschPräfektur
Ελληνικάνομός nomós
Românăprefectură
Русскийпрефекту́ра prefektúra
Tiếng Việttỉnh
العربيةوِلَايَة wilāya
עבריתמחוז

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Cite this
MLA

"prefecture." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/prefecture. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

prefecture. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/prefecture

Chicago

"prefecture." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/prefecture.

BibTeX
@misc{prefecture_2026,
  title = {prefecture},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/prefecture},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}