# country
## 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. (Can this etymology be sourced?)

### Pronunciation

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

### Noun

country (countable and uncountable, plural countries)
* The territory of a nation, especially an independent nation state or formerly independent nation; a political entity asserting ultimate authority over a geographical area; a sovereign state. [from 14th c.]
    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:country
** 1935, George Goodchild, chapter 5, in Death on the Centre Court:By one o'clock the place was choc-a-bloc. […] The restaurant was packed, and the promenade between the two main courts and the subsidiary courts was thronged with healthy-looking youngish people, drawn to the Mecca of tennis from all parts of the country.
** 1986 April 15, Michael Parenti, 02:53 from the start, in U.S. interventionism, the Third World, and the USSR‎, Boulder, Colorado:But that expropriation of the Third World, [that] has been going on for 400 years, brings us to another revelation: namely, that the Third World is not poor. You don't go to poor countries to make money. There are very few poor countries in this world. Most countries are rich: the Philippines are rich, Brazil is rich, Mexico is rich, Chile is rich; only the people are poor. But there's billions to be made there, to be carved out, and to be taken; there's been billions for 400 years! The Capitalist European and North American powers have carved out and taken the timber, the flax, the hemp, the cocoa, the rum, the tin, the copper, the iron, the rubber, the bauxite, the slaves, and the cheap labour. They have taken out of these countries. These countries are not underdeveloped; they're overexploited!
** 1994, Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom: The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela, London: Abacus, published 2010, page 3:It is a beautiful country of rolling hills, fertile valleys, and a thousand rivers and streams which keep the landscape green even in winter.
** 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.
** 2013 June 22, “T time”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8841, page 68:The ability to shift profits to low-tax countries by locating intellectual property in them, which is then licensed to related businesses in high-tax countries, is often assumed to be the preserve of high-tech companies.
* (uncountable, countable) A somewhat precisely delimited region of land having particular human occupation or agreed limits, especially inhabited by members of the same race, speakers of the same language etc., or associated with a given person, occupation, species etc. [from 13th c.]
** 2007 February 17, Chris Moss, The Guardian:This is condor country – the only region this far east where you can see the magnificent vulture – and a small national park straddling the passes, El Condorito, is a good stopover for walkers and birders.
    I enjoy wild country best.
** (especially British, uncountable, countable) An area of land; a district, region. [from 13th c.]
*** 2010 March 7, David Vann, The Observer:We walk along flat, open country, red dirt and spinifex grass, a few short trees […].
* (uncountable, usually preceded by “the”) A rural area, as opposed to a town or city; the countryside. [from 16th c.]
** 1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 17, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC:I was borne and brought up in the Countrie, and amidst husbandry […].
** 2000 March 4, Alexander Chancellor, The Guardian:I have always thought that one of the main reasons for the popularity of blood sports in the country is the pointlessness of going outdoors with no purpose or destination in mind.
** 2006 May, James B. Weld, Difficulties in Learning English as a Second or Foreign Language‎, Regis University, page 37:She grew up in Chang-hua, a city in central Taiwan with a decidedly country flavor.
* (Australia, usually capitalised) Traditional lands of Indigenous people with embedded cultural, spiritual, cosmological, ecological, and physical attributes and values.
** 1842 February 16, The Inquirer, Perth, page 5, column 2:"Me like my country — no much too hot, no much too cold. By and bye, white fellow come — soldier-man come. White fellow say, this our land, that our land — ALL country our land. Black fellow say no! my country no white fellow's country, and black fellow take spear.
** 1945 September 27, The Chronicle, Adelaide, page 35, column 4:"Yewi," he said, "me bin longa Fanny Bay gaol five years." On my asking why they put him in gaol he replied. "Australia your country, ain't it?" I replied, "Yes, him my country all right." "Well," he then said, "this my country here. Brinken country other side of the river ain't it?" "That's right," said I. "Well," said Jack, "supposem Japanese come longa this country and you killem, you good man, but suppose Brinken come longa my country here, and I kill him, police man put me longa Fanny Bay for five years. That is the law."
** 2008 July 23, The Torres News, page 5, column 1:"It demonstrates that having Indigenous people on country managing their lands, delivering environmental benefits for all Australians is an important asset for the national good."
** 2015 March 11, Calla Wahlquist, “Of three remote communities here, why are only the two Aboriginal ones under threat?”, in The Guardian‎, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2022-10-07:Milgin says living on country, with elders, makes Aboriginal people "strong". That's backed up by a 2011 report on Aboriginal homelands by Amnesty International that found that living on homelands was connected to better health outcomes and drug rehabilitation.
** 2021 July 8, The Air Force News, page 16, column 2:What country do you live/work on? I work on Yuggera Yuggarapul country and I'm from Darwin, Larrakia country.
* Ellipsis of country music. [from 20th c.]
    a country song
    a country singer
    a country festival
* (informal) The spirit of the country (rural places): the spirit of country folkways; those folkways.
    you can take the boy out of the country, but you can't take the country out of the boy
* (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.

#### Hyponyms

See also Thesaurus:country.
* cleft country
* developing country
* high country
* King Country
* Lake Country
* member country
* mini-country
* old country
* West Country

#### Derived terms

* accession country
* across country
* alt-country
* alternative country
* another country heard from
* anticountry
* a prophet has no honor in his own country
* a prophet is not without honor save in his own country
* backcountry
* back country
* Black Country
* bro country
* bro-country
* Constable country
* constituent country
* countrification
* countrify
* country & western
* country-and-western
* country and western
* countryball
* country beam
* country beer
* country-blues
* country blues
* country bookie
* country box
* country bumpkin
* country captain
* country club
* country code
* country cousin
* country damage
* country-damaged
* country dance
* country-dance
* country dancing
* countryfication
* country fig
* countryfolk
* country-fried
* country-fried steak
* countryful
* country gentleman
* country gravy
* country ham
* countryhood
* country house
* countryhuman
* countryish
* country Joan
* country lane
* countryless
* countrylike
* countrymade
* countryman
* countrymate
* country merchant
* country mile
* country mouse
* country music
* country of origin
* country of provenance
* country park
* countryperson
* country pop
* country punk
* country rap
* country risk
* country road
* country rock
* country-rock
* country sausage
* country seat
* countryship
* country ship
* country-side
* country side
* countryside
* country stop
* country store
* country team
* countryward
* countrywards
* countrywear
* country-western
* country-western music
* countrywide
* country wife
* country wine
* countrywoman
* cross-country
* cross country
* cross-country ski
* cross-country skier
* cross country skiing
* cross-country skiing
* cuntry
* developed country
* Elvis country
* flyover country
* foreign country
* free country
* fresh country egg
* fresh country eggs
* frontcountry
* go country
* God's country
* God's own country
* go to the country
* hill country blues
* home country
* host country
* in-country
* in country
* intercountry
* intracountry
* it's a free country
* line of country
* live off the country
* Lowcountry
* microcountry
* mini-independent country
* model country
* mother country
* multicountry
* neotraditional country
* new country project
* noncountry
* Nordic country
* north country
* old-time country
* outlaw country
* outside country
* pure country
* socialism in one country
* step-country
* third country
* tiger country
* transcountry
* Trump country
* up the country people
* X-country

#### Descendants

* Jamaican Creole: konchri
* Krio: kɔntri
* Nigerian Pidgin: kontri
* Sranan Tongo: kondre
* Tok Pisin: kantri
* → Arabic: كَانْتْرِي (kāntrī)
* ⇒ Chinese: 港腳 / 港脚 (gǎngjiǎo)
* → Finnish: country, kantri
* → French: country
* → Italian: country
* → Japanese: カントリー (kantorī)
* → Korean: 컨트리 (keonteuri)
* → Norwegian Bokmål: køntri
* → Norwegian Nynorsk: køntri
* → Polish: country
* → Portuguese: country
* → Romanian: country
* → Russian: ка́нтри (kántri)
** → Kazakh: кантри (kantri)
* → Spanish: country
* → Swedish: country
* → Ukrainian: ка́нтрі (kántri)

#### See also

* Appendix:Countries of the world

### Adjective

country (not comparable)
* From or in the countryside, connected with it, or typical of it.
    Things around here are just a little more country than what he's used to.
** 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter V, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:When this conversation was repeated in detail within the hearing of the young woman in question, and undoubtedly for his benefit, Mr. Trevor threw shame to the winds and scandalized the Misses Brewster then and there by proclaiming his father to have been a country storekeeper.
* Of or connected to country music.
    They're mainly a hard rock band, but their new album sounds kinda country to me.
* (India, historical) Originating in India rather than being imported from Europe or elsewhere.
** 1872, Silk in India, page 16:We have seen that the Company manufactured silk stuffs at three of its Residencies, but from country-wound silk.
** 1884, Journal of the United Service Institution of India, page 185:A reference to the Annual Administration Reports of the Department of Horse-breeding Operations […] will allow of the opinion being arrived at, that the breed of country horses under the present regime is steadily improving.
** 1937, Brigadier-General H. A. Young, The East India Company’s Arsenals & Manufactories:Country harness costs nearly as much, lasts half the time, and is in every respect inferior. It is understood that the only reason is that the Court desires to improve and encourage Indian manufactures.

#### Related terms

* go country

#### Translations
### References

* ↑ Douglas Harper (2001–2025) “country (n.)”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
* “country”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
* 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.
* William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “country”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

## Basque
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /kau̯ntri/ [kãũ̯n̪.t̪ri]
* Rhymes: -au̯ntri, -i

### Noun

country inan
* 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: /ˈkɑntri/, [ˈkɑ̝n̪.t̪ri]
* Rhymes: -ɑntri

### Noun

country
* country music

#### Declension

Possessive forms of country (Kotus type 1/valo, no gradation) :
first-person singular possessor
singular
plural
nominative
countryni
accusative
nom.
countryni
gen.
countryni
genitive
countryni
partitive
countryani
inessive
countryssani
elative
countrystani
illative
countryyni
adessive
countryllani
ablative
countryltani
allative
countrylleni
essive
countrynani
translative
countrykseni
abessive
countryttani
instructive
comitative
second-person singular possessor
singular
plural
nominative
countrysi
accusative
nom.
countrysi
gen.
countrysi
genitive
countrysi
partitive
countryasi
inessive
countryssasi
elative
countrystasi
illative
countryysi
adessive
countryllasi
ablative
countryltasi
allative
countryllesi
essive
countrynasi
translative
countryksesi
abessive
countryttasi
instructive
comitative
first-person plural possessor
singular
plural
nominative
countrymme
accusative
nom.
countrymme
gen.
countrymme
genitive
countrymme
partitive
countryamme
inessive
countryssamme
elative
countrystamme
illative
countryymme
adessive
countryllamme
ablative
countryltamme
allative
countryllemme
essive
countrynamme
translative
countryksemme
abessive
countryttamme
instructive
comitative
second-person plural possessor
singular
plural
nominative
countrynne
accusative
nom.
countrynne
gen.
countrynne
genitive
countrynne
partitive
countryanne
inessive
countryssanne
elative
countrystanne
illative
countryynne
adessive
countryllanne
ablative
countryltanne
allative
countryllenne
essive
countrynanne
translative
countryksenne
abessive
countryttanne
instructive
comitative
third-person possessor
singular
plural
nominative
countrynsa
accusative
nom.
countrynsa
gen.
countrynsa
genitive
countrynsa
partitive
countryaan countryansa
inessive
countryssaan countryssansa
elative
countrystaan countrystansa
illative
countryynsa
adessive
countryllaan countryllansa
ablative
countryltaan countryltansa
allative
countrylleen countryllensa
essive
countrynaan countrynansa
translative
countrykseen countryksensa
abessive
countryttaan countryttansa
instructive
comitative

#### Synonyms

* countrymusiikki
* kantrimusiikki

#### Derived terms

* countrymusiikki

### Further reading

* “country”, in Kielitoimiston sanakirja [Dictionary of Contemporary Finnish]‎ (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: /kœ̃.tʁi/

### Noun

country m (uncountable)
* country music

## Italian
### Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English country.

### Pronunciation

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

### Noun

country m (invariable)
* (music) country music

### References

* ↑ country in Luciano Canepari, Dizionario di Pronuncia Italiana (DiPI)

## Polish
### Etymology

Pseudo-anglicism, derived from country music.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈkan.trɘ/
* Rhymes: -antrɘ
* Syllabification: coun‧try

### Noun

country n (indeclinable)
* country, country music

#### Derived terms

* countrowy
* country'owy

### 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

* (Brazil) IPA: /ˈkaw̃.tɾi/ [ˈkaʊ̯̃.tɾi], /ˈkɐ̃.tɾi/

### Noun

country m (uncountable)
* country music

## Romanian
### Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English country.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈkan.tri/

### Adjective

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

#### Declension
## Spanish
### Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English country. Doublet of contrada.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈkantɾi/ [ˈkãn̪.t̪ɾi]
** Rhymes: -antɾi
* IPA: /ˈkontɾi/ [ˈkõn̪.t̪ɾi]
** Rhymes: -ontɾi

### Noun

country m (uncountable)
* 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)
* (music) country, country music
    Synonym: countrymusik
** 1986, Claes Eriksson, “Truckdriving song”, in Macken [The gas station]‎, performed by Per Fritzell:Howdy, cowboy! Visa nu, vad har du på din mack? Jag behöver fylla skafferiet på min truck [English]. Tuggummi, så klart, snus och chips, en låda dryck, skulle jag bli glad om jag fick. Jag drar min långtradarsång, min lastbilskörarsång, för jag har sån smak för bilar med flak. Jag drar min truckdriving song [English], tjugofyra meter lång, och jag tackar Gud för countryns alla ljud. Och om låten blir för tråkig, ja, då jag tar jag det kallt. Ja, då byter jag tonart och höjer ett halvt. Ja, jag höjer ett halvt.Howdy, cowboy! Show me now, what do you have at your gas station? I need to fill the pantry in my truck [English]. Chewing gum, of course, snus and chips [in the US sense], a case of drink, I would be happy if I got. I do [pull] my big rig song, my truck driving song, because I have such taste for cars with a flatbed [platform]. I do my truckdriving song [English], twenty-four meters long, and I thank God for all the sounds of country music ("for the country music's all sounds"). And if the song gets too boring, yes, then I stay cool [take it cool]. Yes, then I change the key and raise by a half [step]. Yes, I raise by a half [step].

#### Declension
### Further reading

* country in Svenska Akademiens ordböcker