province
English
Etymology
Middle English provynce, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Lua error in Module:parameters at line 95: Parameter 1 should be a valid language code; the value "xno" is not valid. See WT:LOL. province, (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Middle French province, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Latin prōvincia (“territory brought under Roman domination; official duty, office, charge, province”), from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Proto-Indo-European *prōw- (“right judge, master”). Cognate with Gothic 𐍆𐍂𐌰𐌿𐌾𐌰 (frauja, “lord, master”), Old English frēa (“ruler, lord, king, master”). See also frow.
Pronunciation
- (General American) IPA(key): /ˈpɹɑvɪns/
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈpɹɒvɪns/
Audio (US) (file)
Noun
province (plural provinces)
- A region of the earth or of a continent; a district or country. [from 14th c.]
- 1859, Charles Darwin, The Origin of Species:
- We should find, as we do find, some groups of beings greatly, and some only slightly modified […] in the different great geographical provinces of the world.
- 1859, Charles Darwin, The Origin of Species:
- An administrative subdivision of certain countries, including Canada and China. [from 14th c.]
- 2016, The Guardian, 4 May:
- All of Fort McMurray, with the exception of Parson’s Creek, was under a mandatory evacuation order on Tuesday, said Robin Smith, press secretary for the regional municipality of Wood Buffalo in the Canadian province.
- 2016, The Guardian, 4 May:
- (Roman history) An area outside Italy which is administered by a Roman governor. [from 14th c.]
- 2008, Mark Brown, The Guardian, 28 November:
- He reminded his audience of events in 88BC, when the same Mithridates invaded the Roman province of Asia, on the western coast of Turkey.
- 2008, Mark Brown, The Guardian, 28 November:
- (Christianity) An area under the jurisdiction of an archbishop, typically comprising a number of adjacent dioceses. [from 14th c.]
- 1838, The Churchman, p. 44:
- In 1309, neither the Archbishop of Canterbury nor his suffragans would attend in Parliament while the Archbishop of York had the cross borne erect before him in the province of Canterbury.
- 1838, The Churchman, p. 44:
- (Roman Catholicism) An area under the jurisdiction of a provincial within a monastic order.
- (in the plural, chiefly with definite article) The parts of a country outside its capital city. [from 17th c.]
- 1937, The Guardian, 1 April:
- To-day the first part of the new Indian Constitution comes into force with the granting of a large measure of autonomy to the provinces.
- 1937, The Guardian, 1 April:
- An area of activity, responsibility or knowledge; the proper concern of a particular person or concept. [from 17th c.]
- 1984, Dorothee Sölle, The Strength of the Weak: Toward a Christian Feminist Identity, page 37:
- Just as money is the province of the economy and truth the province of science and scholarship, so love is the province of the family (Niklas Luhmann).
- 1984, Dorothee Sölle, The Strength of the Weak: Toward a Christian Feminist Identity, page 37:
Usage notes
Province is the generic English term for such primary divisions of a country, but is not used where another official term has widespread use, such as France's regions and departments or America's states. Territories and colonies are sometimes distinguished from provinces as unorganized areas of low or foreign population, which are not considered an integral part of the country. Sovereign subdivisions of a larger whole, such as the principalities of the former Holy Roman Empire or the countries with the European Union, are likewise not usually described as provinces.
Synonyms
- (principal subdivision of a state): circuit, tao, dao, route, lu (imperial and early Republican China)
Coordinate terms
- canton (Swiss); county (British); department (French); oblast (Russian); state (USA, Australian); voivodeship (Poland)
- shire
- territory
Derived terms
Related terms
Descendants
- Tok Pisin: provins
Translations
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French
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin prōvincia. Doublet of Provence.
Pronunciation
Noun
province f (plural provinces)
- province
- the countryside (of France), the French regions (other than the Parisian region), provincial France
Related terms
Further reading
- “province”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Italian
Noun
province f pl
Synonyms
Middle English
Noun
province
- Alternative form of provynce
Middle French
Noun
province f (plural provinces)
- province (subdivision of a territory)
- 15th century, Rustichello da Pisa (original author), Mazarine Master (scribe), The Travels of Marco Polo, page 14:
- Elle est moult grant province.
- It is a big province.
Descendants
References
- province on Dictionnaire du Moyen Français (1330–1500) (in French)
Old French
Alternative forms
Noun
province oblique singular, f (oblique plural provinces, nominative singular province, nominative plural provinces)
- province (subdivision of a territory)
Descendants
References
- province on the Anglo-Norman On-Line Hub
- Godefroy, Frédéric, Dictionnaire de l’ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IXe au XVe siècle (1881) (province, supplement)
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
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- English terms derived from Latin
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English 2-syllable words
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- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- en:Christianity
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- Hakka terms with redundant script codes
- Min Nan terms with redundant script codes
- en:Administrative divisions
- en:Political subdivisions
- en:Polities
- French terms borrowed from Latin
- French terms derived from Latin
- French doublets
- French 2-syllable words
- French terms with IPA pronunciation
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- French lemmas
- French nouns
- French countable nouns
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- fr:Political subdivisions
- Italian non-lemma forms
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- Middle French nouns
- Middle French feminine nouns
- Middle French countable nouns
- Middle French terms with quotations
- Old French lemmas
- Old French nouns
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