Afrikaans provinsie | ||
Albanian krahinë | ||
Amharic ክፍለ ሀገር | ||
Arabic المحافظة | ||
Armenian գավառ | ||
Assamese প্ৰদেশ | ||
Aymara provincia | ||
Azerbaijani vilayət | ||
Bambara marali | ||
Basque probintzia | ||
Belarusian правінцыі | ||
Bengali প্রদেশ | ||
Bhojpuri प्रान्त | ||
Bosnian provincija | ||
Bulgarian провинция | ||
Catalan província | ||
Cebuano probinsya | ||
Chinese (Simplified) 省 | ||
Chinese (Traditional) 省 | ||
Corsican pruvincia | ||
Croatian pokrajina | ||
Czech provincie | ||
Danish provins | ||
Dhivehi ޕްރޮވިންސް | ||
Dogri सूबा | ||
Dutch provincie | ||
English province | ||
Esperanto provinco | ||
Estonian provints | ||
Ewe nutoga | ||
Filipino (Tagalog) lalawigan | ||
Finnish maakunnassa | ||
French province | ||
Frisian provinsje | ||
Galician provincia | ||
Georgian პროვინცია | ||
German provinz | ||
Greek επαρχία | ||
Guarani tetãpehẽ | ||
Gujarati પ્રાંત | ||
Haitian Creole pwovens | ||
Hausa lardin | ||
Hawaiian panalāʻau | ||
Hebrew מָחוֹז | ||
Hindi प्रांत | ||
Hmong xeev | ||
Hungarian tartomány | ||
Icelandic héraði | ||
Igbo ógbè | ||
Ilocano probinsia | ||
Indonesian propinsi | ||
Irish cúige | ||
Italian provincia | ||
Japanese 州 | ||
Javanese provinsi | ||
Kannada ಪ್ರಾಂತ್ಯ | ||
Kazakh провинция | ||
Khmer ខេត្ត | ||
Kinyarwanda intara | ||
Konkani प्रांत | ||
Korean 지방 | ||
Krio distrikt | ||
Kurdish herêm | ||
Kurdish (Sorani) پارێزگا | ||
Kyrgyz провинция | ||
Lao ແຂວງ | ||
Latin provinciae | ||
Latvian provincē | ||
Lingala provense | ||
Lithuanian provincija | ||
Luganda ettwale | ||
Luxembourgish provënz | ||
Macedonian провинција | ||
Maithili राज्य | ||
Malagasy -tokony eran'ny fanjakana | ||
Malay wilayah | ||
Malayalam പ്രവിശ്യ | ||
Maltese provinċja | ||
Maori kawanatanga | ||
Marathi प्रांत | ||
Meiteilon (Manipuri) ꯂꯝꯗꯝ ꯑꯃ | ||
Mizo rambung | ||
Mongolian аймаг | ||
Myanmar (Burmese) ပြည်နယ် | ||
Nepali प्रान्त | ||
Norwegian provins | ||
Nyanja (Chichewa) chigawo | ||
Odia (Oriya) ପ୍ରଦେଶ | ||
Oromo godina | ||
Pashto ولایت | ||
Persian استان | ||
Polish województwo | ||
Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) província | ||
Punjabi ਸੂਬਾ | ||
Quechua provincia | ||
Romanian provincie | ||
Russian провинция | ||
Samoan itumalo | ||
Sanskrit प्रांत | ||
Scots Gaelic mòr-roinn | ||
Sepedi profense | ||
Serbian провинција | ||
Sesotho provense | ||
Shona dunhu | ||
Sindhi صوبو | ||
Sinhala (Sinhalese) පළාත | ||
Slovak provincie | ||
Slovenian provinca | ||
Somali gobolka | ||
Spanish provincia | ||
Sundanese propinsi | ||
Swahili mkoa | ||
Swedish provins | ||
Tagalog (Filipino) lalawigan | ||
Tajik вилоят | ||
Tamil மாகாணம் | ||
Tatar өлкә | ||
Telugu ప్రావిన్స్ | ||
Thai จังหวัด | ||
Tigrinya ገጸር | ||
Tsonga xifundzhankulu | ||
Turkish bölge | ||
Turkmen welaýaty | ||
Twi (Akan) mansini | ||
Ukrainian провінція | ||
Urdu صوبہ | ||
Uyghur ئۆلكە | ||
Uzbek viloyat | ||
Vietnamese tỉnh | ||
Welsh talaith | ||
Xhosa iphondo | ||
Yiddish פּראָווינץ | ||
Yoruba igberiko | ||
Zulu isifundazwe |
| Language | Etymology / Notes |
|---|---|
| Afrikaans | The word "provinsie" originates from the French word "province" but also has the alternate meaning of "church diocese" in Afrikaans. |
| Albanian | The term 'krahinë' may also refer to an administrative region within a country, especially a historical or cultural region. |
| Arabic | In medieval Arabic, the term "المحافظة" also referred to a type of land grant or fiefdom, where the governor had administrative and military authority over a particular territory. |
| Armenian | The word "գավառ" (province) comes from the Middle Persian "gabar" (countryside) |
| Azerbaijani | In Turkish, "vilayət" is also used as a synonym for "homeland" or "country". |
| Basque | The word "probintzia" derives from the Latin "provincia" and is also used to refer to a territory with special privileges or a group of people with common interests. |
| Belarusian | In Old Belarusian, the word "правінцыі" was a synonym for "павет" (county) and referred to a territorial division within a voivodeship. |
| Bengali | The Bengali word "প্রদেশ" (province) is of Sanskrit origin and can also refer to a state or territory. |
| Bosnian | The word "provincija" also means "countryside" in Bosnian, derived from Latin "provincia" (area outside Rome). |
| Bulgarian | The word "провинция" in Bulgarian comes from the French word "province", which is derived from the Latin "provincia" meaning "conquered territory". |
| Catalan | The Catalan term "província" can also refer to a religious order. |
| Cebuano | In Cebuano, the term "probinsya" has the dual meaning of "province" and "countryside." |
| Chinese (Simplified) | Its earliest meaning was "to inspect," and thus by extension an "inspected area." |
| Chinese (Traditional) | 省 can also refer to the abbreviation for the word "province" (省份), or to the verb "to save" (节省). |
| Corsican | Corsican pruvincia stems from the Latin provincia, meaning "a conquered territory". |
| Croatian | The term "pokrajina" has historical meanings in Croatia including "region; land; area; frontier; marching region; border territory; district; countryside; rural area; province" from Proto-Slavic *pokrajь «near, around» + *krajina «edge, border». |
| Czech | The Czech word "provincie" can also refer to a "province" in a religious context, specifically a "vicariate" or administrative division within a diocese. |
| Danish | In Danish, "provins" can also mean the countryside or the provinces, as opposed to the capital city. |
| Dutch | The Dutch word "provincie" derives from the French "province", and originally referred to any area of land outside the city walls of Rome. |
| Esperanto | In Esperanto, the word "provinco" can also refer to a "sphere of activity" or a "field of knowledge". |
| Estonian | "Provints" also means "countryside" or "provincial" in Estonian. |
| Finnish | The term "maakunta" originates from the Proto-Germanic word "*makôjan-," meaning "land, territory, region, district, or country." |
| French | Originating from the word "provincia" from Latin and meaning a "conquered territory", in French province has come to mean a part of the country governed by a specific authority. |
| Frisian | The word "provinsje" in Frisian also means "borderland" or "frontier region" |
| Galician | In Galician, "provincia" also means "task" or "work", which is related to the word "probar", meaning "to try". |
| Georgian | The Georgian word |
| German | In German usage, "Provinz" also refers to "rural areas" or "countryside." |
| Greek | "Eparchy" is used for dioceses in the Eastern Orthodox Church, and "eparch" for the bishop in charge of an eparchy. |
| Gujarati | The word 'પ્રાંત' means 'province' in Gujarati but it can also mean 'region', 'district', or 'division'. |
| Haitian Creole | The word "pwovens" in Haitian Creole is derived from "province" in French, and can also refer to a department or a subdivision of a country. |
| Hausa | The Hausa word ‘lardin’ is also used to refer to a large, well populated settlement, or sometimes to the king’s headquarters of the kingdom and sometimes as a plural for the word ‘gari’ (country in Hausa). |
| Hawaiian | "Panalāʻau" derives from the Proto-Malayo-Polynesian word "panuaran", meaning "to mark a boundary". |
| Hebrew | The Hebrew word מָחוֹז, often translated as "province," can also mean a region, an area, or a district. |
| Hindi | प्रांत (praant) may also refer to the outer edge of a sword's blade in Sanskrit, which is part of the reason that 'praant' translates to 'frontier' in English. |
| Hmong | The word "xeev" can also refer to a large geographical area or a territory. |
| Hungarian | The word "tartomány" is a loanword from Latin "territorium", meaning "territory" or "district". |
| Icelandic | The word "héraði" can also refer to a "district". |
| Igbo | The word "ógbè" in Igbo can also refer to a "landmass" or a "community". |
| Indonesian | The word "propinsi" in Indonesian is derived from the Dutch word "provincie" and has the same meaning of "administrative division" or "region". |
| Irish | "Cúige" is related to the Welsh "cŵg" (five), and shares the same Proto-Celtic root as the English word "quintet." |
| Italian | The Italian word "Provincia" derives from the Latin "provincia" meaning "sphere of influence". During the Roman Empire provinces were the territories outside Italy proper that were governed by a military governor. |
| Japanese | The character "州" (shu) meaning "province" in Japanese is also used as a classifier for ships, as in 軍艦一艘 (gunkan issō, "one warship"). |
| Javanese | In Javanese, "provinsi" can also refer to the area of a house where the family spends the most time together, like the living room. |
| Kannada | The Kannada word "ಪ್ರಾಂತ್ಯ" originates from the Sanskrit word "प्रान्त" ("prānta"), which originally meant "border" or "boundary". |
| Kazakh | The word "провинция" is a loanword from French and is also used to refer to a rural area. |
| Khmer | The word "ខេត្ត" (khet) is derived from Sanskrit and originally meant a small administrative division. |
| Korean | The word "지방" can also refer to "fat" in Korean. |
| Kurdish | Herêm, in Kurdish, derives from the Akkadian word for "fortified enclosure" and also means "forbidden" or "sacred". |
| Kyrgyz | The word "провинция" can also refer to an administrative district in Kyrgyzstan. |
| Lao | The Lao word "ແຂວງ" (province) comes from the Sanskrit word "khvaḥ" (circle, enclosure), and it originally referred to a defensive stronghold or walled city. |
| Latin | The word "provincae" in Latin means "conquered territory" and is the origin of the modern word "province." |
| Latvian | 'Province' (provincē) derives from Roman administrative divisions and has the secondary meanings 'territory' and 'region'. |
| Lithuanian | In Lithuanian, "provincija" also refers to a small town or region outside of a large city or capital. |
| Luxembourgish | In Luxembourgish, "Provënz" can also refer to the origin or provenance of an object or product. |
| Macedonian | The word 'провинција' in Macedonian comes from the Latin word 'provincia' ('province'). |
| Malagasy | The word "-tokony eran'ny fanjakana" is also used to refer to a region or territory. |
| Malay | "Wilayah" in Malay can also refer to the administrative division of a state or country, or the sphere of influence or jurisdiction of a government or organization. |
| Maltese | "Provinċja" derives from the Latin "provincia", which originally meant a conquered territory outside Italy. |
| Maori | The word "kawanatanga" can also mean "government", "authority", or "jurisdiction" in Maori. |
| Marathi | प्रांत (prānta) is also used to refer to the part of a building or a book |
| Mongolian | The word "аймаг" also means "tribal union" in Mongolian, reflecting its historical connection to nomadic societies. |
| Nepali | "प्रान्त" in Nepali ultimately derives from the Sanskrit term "pranta", meaning "boundary" or "border." |
| Norwegian | Provins i betydningen «landskap» kommer fra latin «provincia», «oppgave, område eller embete», mens provins i betydningen «politisk underordnet område» kommer fra fransk «province». |
| Nyanja (Chichewa) | Chigawo originates from the Ngoni word "ufawo" which also means "a place belonging to someone." |
| Pashto | In Pashto, the word "ولایت" also refers to a religious territory ruled by a spiritual leader, similar to the "vilayet" system in Sufism. |
| Persian | The word "استان" (province) is derived from the Middle Persian "stān" or "stahn", which in turn comes from the Old Persian "stana" meaning "standing" or "place." |
| Polish | Etymology of województwo derives from a Slavic word *vojevoda meaning "military leader", and its original meaning in Polish was "territory ruled by a voivode". |
| Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) | "Provinces" derives from the Latin _provincia_, a territorial division outside, _pro_, its geographical center. |
| Punjabi | The word "ਸੂਬਾ" is derived from the Persian word "suba", which means "a large administrative district". |
| Romanian | In Romanian, the word "provincie" can also refer to a historical or geographical region within a larger territory. |
| Russian | The Russian word "провинция" (province) derives from the Latin "provincia," meaning "conquered territory." |
| Samoan | Itumalo translates directly to "small tribe" and is used to describe "district" in a political sense. |
| Scots Gaelic | The word “mòr-roinn” is also used in the sense of “large district”. |
| Serbian | The word "провинција" in Serbian can also refer to a countryside or a part of the country outside of the capital city. |
| Sesotho | Sesotho's "porofense" originates from the English loanword "province" (meaning "province"). The original Latin word "provincia" referred to conquered foreign territory. |
| Shona | The word "dunhu" in Shona derives from the Proto-Bantu term "*duŋu", meaning "settlement" or "village". |
| Sindhi | The Sindhi word "صوبو" can also refer to a region or area that is not necessarily an administrative division. |
| Sinhala (Sinhalese) | The word පළාත can also mean "area" or "region" in a broader sense. |
| Slovak | The word "provincia" in Slovak can also mean "state" or "region" and comes from the Latin word for "sphere of influence". |
| Slovenian | The word 'provinca' in Slovenian also means 'a monastery with a surrounding estate' or 'a region with a monastery as its centre'. |
| Somali | The word "gobolka" derives from the Somali word "gob", meaning "region" or "area", and "-ka" is the definite article suffix. |
| Spanish | "Provincia" also means "monastery" in Spanish. |
| Sundanese | The Sundanese word "Propinsi" is derived from the Sanskrit word "pradesha" which means "region, country, or province." |
| Swahili | The word "mkoa" is also used to refer to a district within a region in Tanzania. |
| Swedish | The word "provins" in Swedish can also refer to the administrative divisions of some historical European countries such as France and Denmark. |
| Tagalog (Filipino) | The word "lalawigan" is derived from the Tagalog word "lawa," which means "expanse" or "wide area." |
| Tajik | The word "вилоят" in Tajik shares its etymology with the Persian word "wilayat" (Arabic original: "wilayah"), and can also mean "territory" or "prefecture". |
| Tamil | மாகாணம் may be cognate to "magamatham" and is likely related to Persian "maghzan" meaning "warehouse" or "depot" |
| Thai | The word “จังหวัด” can also refer to the area supervised by the governor of a city, often larger than a district. |
| Turkish | In Turkish, "bölge" also refers to a region or area, not just a province. |
| Ukrainian | The word "провінція" comes from the Latin word "provincia", which means "sphere of activity" or "district of control". It used to refer to a Roman province, a territory beyond Italy that was under Roman rule and administration. |
| Urdu | In Urdu, ‘Province’ is known as “صوبہ”, derived from Sanskrit “pradesha,” indicating a region or country. |
| Uzbek | "Viloyat" in Uzbek can also mean "district" or "county". |
| Vietnamese | The word "tỉnh" in Vietnamese, meaning "province," originally meant "to guard" and is often used to describe a region within a larger territory. |
| Welsh | Welsh "talaith" also means "floor" but is cognate with Irish "tailte" meaning "domain" |
| Xhosa | The word "iphondo" was used in the past to refer to the administrative district of a chief who was accountable to the king. |
| Yiddish | The Yiddish word "פּראָווינץ" ("province") can also refer to an area outside of the big cities or a rural area. |
| Yoruba | The word "igberiko" in Yoruba can also refer to a "domain" or "region" and derives from the root word "gbere", meaning "to spread" or "to extend." |
| Zulu | Zulu 'isifundazwe' literally means 'something established' and could refer also to a settlement, region or farm |
| English | The word "province" can also refer to a sphere of activity or a field of knowledge. |