Link Centre Dictionary

prefecture

pre·fec·ture

UK/ˈpɹiːfɛkt͡ʃə/ US/ˈpɹiːfɛktjʊə/ uncommon

noun

1.

the district administered by a prefect (as in France or Japan or the Roman Empire)

2.

the office of prefect

Origin

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.

Phrases

  • autonomous prefecture
  • prefecture-level city
  • prefecture-level municipality

Related words

Broader terms

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.