Etymology

prefecture

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Today it means: The office or position of a prefect. Full definition →

Middle French préfecture ← Latin praefectūra
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The story

  1. Latin · derived frompraefectūra
  2. Middle French · borrowed frompréfecture
  3. English todayprefecture

Borrowed from Middle French préfecture, from Latin praefectūra. Equivalent to prefect + -ure. As an East Asian administrative division, a calque of Chinese 府 (fǔ) and 郡 (jùn), also used to describe 縣 /县 (xian, “county”) and 州 (zhou, “province”) in some eras.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.