Shire

Shire () is a traditional term for an administrative division of land in Great Britain and some other English-speaking and Commonwealth countries. It is generally synonymous with county (such as Berkshire and Cheshire). English counties are among the oldest extant national divisions in the world.

It was first used in Wessex from the beginning of Anglo-Saxon settlement, and spread to most of the rest of England in the 10th century. Today, 23 counties bear the "-shire" suffix in England, 23 in Scotland, and 10 in Wales.

In some rural and regional parts of Australia, including parts of the state of Victoria, a shire is a local government area; however, in Australia, shire is not synonymous with "county", the latter term being used to describe a particular lands administrative division in some sparsely populated parts of Western Australia and the Northern Territory.