country

English Online Dictionary. What means country‎? What does country mean?

English

Alternative forms

• contree, countrey (archaic)
• contrey, countre, countrie, counterie (obsolete)
• counthry (pronunciation spelling)
• cuntry (eye dialect, derogatory)

Etymology

From Middle English contre, contree, contreie, from Old French contree, cuntrede, from Vulgar Latin *(terra) contrāta (“(land) lying opposite; (land) spread before one”) (also in Medieval Latin as "country, region"), from Latin contra (“against, opposite”) (whence contra-). Cognate with Scots kintra. Unrelated to county. Displaced native English land in some of its senses.

From around 1300 as "area surrounding a walled city or town; the open country." By early 16th century the sense was applied mostly to rural areas, as opposed to towns and cities.

Pronunciation

• enPR: kŭn'tri
  • (UK, US, Canada) IPA^(key): /ˈkʌntɹi/, [ˈkʰʌnt̠ɹ̠̊˔ʷi]
  • (General Australian, New Zealand) IPA^(key): /ˈkɐntɹi/
• (common in ESL, proscribed) IPA^(key): /ˈkaʊntɹi/
• Hyphenation: coun‧try
• Rhymes: (UK, US, Canada) -ʌntɹi

Noun

country (countable and uncountable, plural countries)

2. The territory of a nation; a sovereign state or a region once independent and still distinct in institutions, language, etc. [from 14th c.]

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:country

   Hyponyms: LMIC, HIC, developing country, developed country, member country, mini-country, old country; see also Thesaurus:country

   • 2010, The Economist, 3 Feb 2011:

     These days corporate Germany looks rather different. Volkswagen, the country’s leading carmaker, wants to be the world’s biggest by 2018.
4. (especially British, uncountable, countable) An area of land of undefined extent; a region, a district. [from 13th c.]
   2. (uncountable, countable) An area of land of indefinite extent or of more or less definite extent in relation to human occupation, especially characterized by its particular physical features, or its suitability for a particular activity or connected with its population (by race, dialect, culture, etc.) or a person, especially a writer, or their works.

      Hyponyms: backcountry, high country, north country, upcountry

      Thomas Hardy country
6. (uncountable, usually preceded by “the”) A rural area, as opposed to a town or city; the countryside. [from 16th c.]
7. The inhabitants or people of a district, region, or nation; the populace, the public. [from ca. 1300]
9. (Australia, usually capitalised) Traditional lands of Indigenous people with embedded cultural, spiritual, cosmological, ecological, and physical attributes and values.
11. Ellipsis of country music. [from 20th c.]

13. (informal) The spirit of the country (rural places): the spirit of country folkways; those folkways.

15. (mining) The rock through which a vein of ore or coal runs.

    Coordinate terms: gangue, overburden

Usage notes

The geographical sense of "country" usually refers to a sovereign state, that is, a nation with no administrative dependence on another one, which is the definition adopted in most world maps. In a broader sense, however, "country" may also refer to polities, or their territories, with some degree of autonomy and cultural identity but still under the sovereignty of another state. Examples of the latter include Scotland, Tibet, Abkhazia, and Greenland. Such usage may be interpreted as supporting secessionism of these polities by others.

Derived terms

Descendants

Translations

See also

• Appendix:Countries of the world

Adjective

country (not comparable)

1. From or in the countryside, connected with it, or typical of it.
2. Of or connected to country music.

3. (India, historical) Originating in India rather than being imported from Europe or elsewhere.

Related terms

Translations

References

• country in Keywords for Today: A 21st Century Vocabulary, edited by The Keywords Project, Colin MacCabe, Holly Yanacek, 2018.
• "country" in Raymond Williams, Keywords (revised), 1983, Fontana Press, page 81.
• “country” in Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, Longman: “an area of land that is suitable for a particular activity, has particular features, or is connected with a particular person or people”.
• “country”, in Oxford Languages, Oxford University Press: “an area or region with regard to its physical features. [...] a region associated with a particular person, especially a writer, or with a particular work.”
• “country, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.
• “country, n.”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC: “The inhabitants or people of a state or a region; the populace; the public.”
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “country”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

Further reading

• “country”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Basque

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kau̯ntri/ [kãũ̯n̪.t̪ri]
• Rhymes: -au̯ntri, -i

Noun

country inan

1. country music

Declension

Further reading

• “country”, in Euskaltzaindiaren Hiztegia [Dictionary of the Basque Academy] (in Basque), Euskaltzaindia [Royal Academy of the Basque Language]

Finnish

Alternative forms

• kantri

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English country.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkɑntri/, [ˈkɑ̝n̪.t̪ri]
• Rhymes: -ɑntri

Noun

country

1. country music

Declension

Synonyms

• countrymusiikki
• kantrimusiikki

Derived terms

Further reading

• “country”, in Kielitoimiston sanakirja [Dictionary of Contemporary Finnish]‎^[5] (in Finnish) (online dictionary, continuously updated), Kotimaisten kielten keskuksen verkkojulkaisuja 35, Helsinki: Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus (Institute for the Languages of Finland), 2004–, retrieved 2023-07-02

French

Etymology

From English. Doublet of contrée.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kœ̃.tʁi/

Noun

country m (uncountable)

1. country music

Italian

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English country.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkawn.tri/, (careful style) /ˈkan.tri/
• Rhymes: -awntri, (careful style) -antri

Noun

country m (invariable)

1. (music) country music

References

Polish

Etymology

Pseudo-anglicism, derived from country music.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkan.trɘ/
• Rhymes: -antrɘ
• Syllabification: coun‧try

Noun

country n (indeclinable)

1. country, country music

Derived terms

Further reading

• country in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• country in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Portuguese

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English country. The pronunciation reflects the incorrect belief that the ⟨oun⟩ represents /aʊn/ in the English etymon.

Pronunciation

Noun

country m (uncountable)

1. country music

Romanian

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English country.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkan.tri/

Adjective

country m or n (feminine singular countryă, masculine plural countryi, feminine and neuter plural countrye)

1. country (music)

Declension

Spanish

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English country. Doublet of contrada.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkantɾi/ [ˈkãn̪.t̪ɾi]
  • Rhymes: -antɾi
• IPA^(key): /ˈkontɾi/ [ˈkõn̪.t̪ɾi]
  • Rhymes: -ontɾi

Noun

country m (uncountable)

1. country music

Usage notes

According to Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) prescriptions, unadapted foreign words should be written in italics in a text printed in roman type, and vice versa, and in quotation marks in a manuscript text or when italics are not available. In practice, this RAE prescription is not always followed.

Further reading

• “country”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10

Swedish

Etymology

Borrowed from English country. First attested in 1965.

Noun

country c (uncountable)

1. (music) country, country music

   Synonym: countrymusik

Declension

Further reading

• country in Svenska Akademiens ordböcker