county

¹ American  

[koun-tee] / ˈkaʊn ti /

noun

plural

counties

1. the largest administrative division of a U.S. state.

   Miami, Florida, is in Dade County.

2. one of the chief administrative divisions of a country or state, as in Great Britain and Ireland.

3. one of the larger divisions for purposes of local administration, as in Canada and New Zealand.

4. the territory of a county, especially its rural areas.

   We farmed out in the county before moving to town.

5. the inhabitants of a county.

   It was supposed to be a secret, but you told the whole county.

6. the domain of a count or earl.

---

county ² American  

[koun-tee] / ˈkaʊn ti /

noun

Obsolete.

1. count.

---

county British  

/ ˈkaʊntɪ /

noun

1. 1. any of the administrative or geographic subdivisions of certain states, esp any of the major units into which England and Wales are or have been divided for purposes of local government

   2. ( as modifier )

      county cricket

2. an electoral division in a rural area

3. obsolete the lands under the jurisdiction of a count or earl

---

adjective

1. informal having the characteristics and habits of the inhabitants of country houses and estates, esp an upper-class accent and an interest in horses, dogs, etc

Etymology

Origin of county¹

1250–1300; Middle English counte < Anglo-French counté, Old French cunté, conte < Late Latin comitātus imperial seat, office of a comes ( count ² ), equivalent to Latin comit-, stem of comes + -ātus -ate ³ (or by reanalysis of Latin comitātus escort, retinue, originally verbal noun of comitārī to accompany, derivative of comes

Origin of county²

1540–50; < Anglo-French counte count ²; -y by confusion with county ¹

Explanation

A county is a specific region of a state or country. While the United States is made up of 50 states, it also has over 3000 counties. In the U.S., a county is a separate administrative area of a state — in other words, there is a local government that manages each individual county. In some parts of the country, there are town governments in addition to county governments, both of which are subordinate to the state government. The states range from having three counties (Delaware) to 254 counties (Texas). The Latin root of county is comitatus, "jurisdiction of a count."

Example Sentences

Fellow County Donegal singer Daniel O'Donnell paid tribute to Brennan, who he described as someone who was beloved in her home county.

From BBC • Apr. 14, 2026

Mike Pratt, CEO of Northumberland Wildlife Trust, thinks England's most northerly county "must be up there with a good chance".

From BBC • Apr. 14, 2026

CoreLogic aggregates public deed records from over 3,000 county clerk and recorder offices across the United States.

From MarketWatch • Apr. 13, 2026

Nicchitta made a pitch for legislative change, noting the county was looking to Sacramento to “eliminate loopholes allowing abusive practices by attorneys that inject weak and potentially fraudulent claims into settlement pools.”

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 13, 2026

“I never heard any county but Surry called so.”

From "Emma" by Jane Austen