# county

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˈkaʊnti/ · frequency rank #650

## Definitions
1. The land ruled by a count or a countess.
2. An administrative or geographical region of various countries, including Bhutan, Canada, China, Croatia, Ireland, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Romania, South Korea, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and 47 of the 50 United States (excluding Alaska, Connecticut, and Louisiana).
3. A definitive geographic region, without direct administrative functions.
4. A jail operated by a county government.

## Etymology
From Middle English countee, counte, conte, from Anglo-Norman counté, Old French conté (French comté), from Latin comitātus (“jurisdiction of a count”), from comes (“count, earl”). Cognate with Spanish condado (“county”) and Italian contea (“county”). Doublet of comitatus, borrowed directly from Latin. Mostly displaced native Old English sċīr, whence Modern English shire.

## Easily confused with
- **cunt** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/county-vs-cunt)
- **cuny** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/county-vs-cuny)
- **court** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/county-vs-court)
- **cunts** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/county-vs-cunts)
- **courts** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/county-vs-courts)
- **crusty** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/county-vs-crusty)
- **Coutts** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/county-vs-coutts)
- **courtly** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/county-vs-courtly)
- **cont** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cont-vs-county)
- **count** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/count-vs-county)
- **corny** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/corny-vs-county)
- **conte** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/conte-vs-county)
- **Coney** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/coney-vs-county)
- **counts** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/counts-vs-county)
- **chunky** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/chunky-vs-county)
- **clunky** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/clunky-vs-county)
- **Cooney** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cooney-vs-county)
- **country** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/country-vs-county)
- **counted** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/counted-vs-county)

## Common misspellings (9)
`ccounty`, `conuty`, `counnty`, `countty`, `countyy`, `counyt`, `coutny`, `cuonty`, `ocunty`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/county