# locale

> English word · Noun · IPA /ləʊˈkɑːl/ · frequency rank #29,724

## Definitions
1. The place where something happens.
2. The set of settings related to the language and region in which a computer program executes. Examples are language, currency and time formats, character encoding etc.
3. A partially ordered set with the following additional axiomatic properties: any finite subset of it has a meet, any arbitrary subset of it has a join, and distributivity, which states that a binary meet distributes with respect to an arbitrary join. (Note: locales are just like frames except that the category of locales is opposite to the category of frames.)

## Etymology
From French local (adj), nominal use of the adjective.

## Easily confused with
- **loyal** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/locale-vs-loyal)
- **Locke** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/locale-vs-locke)
- **locate** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/locale-vs-locate)
- **located** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/locale-vs-located)
- **locally** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/locale-vs-locally)
- **lovable** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/locale-vs-lovable)
- **local** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/local-vs-locale)

## Common misspellings (8)
`lcoale`, `llocale`, `loacle`, `locael`, `localle`, `loccale`, `loclae`, `olcale`

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