comté
/kɔ̃.te/masculine
The English word "county" is translated into French as comté.
comté refers to an administrative region. In a formal context within France, the term département is typically used to refer to administrative divisions that are similar to counties.
Meaning: administrative region of various countries (noun)
Is it said differently in some regions?
In the Canadian province of Quebec, the term municipalité régionale de comté is often used to refer to county-level subdivisions.
How does it change in a sentence?
comté is a masculine noun, so you should use the masculine articles le or un before it.
How do you pronounce it?
The word consists of two syllables and is pronounced /kɔ̃.te/.
Did you know?
- If you order comté at a French market, you will likely receive a wheel of cow's milk cheese rather than a map of a region. This famous cheese is named after the comté of Franche-Comté in eastern France.
- In modern France, using comté to describe a current administrative division is generally incorrect, as the country transitioned to départements during the French Revolution to erase the memory of feudal counties.
- While comté means 'county', the English word 'count' is actually a loanword from the French comte. This means the English title for the nobleman is derived from the same root as the French word for the region.
Examples in context
- Sami vivait dans un comté très rural.Sami lived in a very rural county.This sentence is useful for describing where someone lived using comté.Tatoeba #6329665 by Scorpionvenin14, translation #6329364 by OsoHombre
- Elle a rencontré un garçon à la foire du comté.She met a boy at the county fair.This sentence is useful for describing a meeting at a county fair using comté.Tatoeba #2329917 by sacredceltic, translation #2326848 by Hybrid
- Et maintenant, représente-toi un comté, n'importe lequel, et imagine que ce comté est divisé en cinq ou six zones différentes.And now, think about a county, any county, and imagine this county divided into five or six different areas.This sentence is useful for an exercise involving imagining a division of a comté.Tatoeba #12015 by rabicat22, translation #50785 by papabear
- Le comté du Kent est situé en Angleterre.The county of Kent is located in England.
Example conversation
Emma and Lucas are discussing their travel plans in England.
- EmmaQuel comté est-ce que tu veux visiter ?Which county do you want to visit?
- LucasJe pense que ce comté est très beau.I think this county is very beautiful.
- EmmaLucas, tu as déjà été dans ce comté ?Lucas, have you ever been to this county?
- LucasNon, je n'y suis jamais allé.No, I have never been there.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “county” translations and entries comté, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
