prefecture

• præfecture (archaic)

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.

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈpɹiˌfɛkt͡ʃəɹ/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈpɹiːfɛkt͡ʃə/, /ˈpɹiːfɛktjʊə/

prefecture (plural prefectures)

1. The office or position of a prefect.
2. The jurisdiction of a prefect; the region administered by a prefect, especially as a translation of certain French, Chinese, and Japanese administrative divisions.
   • 2021 April 30, Tom Daly, “China graft watchdog probes governor of emerging aluminium hub”, in Richard Chang, editor, Reuters‎, archived from the original on 06 July 2023, ALUMINUM:

     The top anti-corruption watchdog in Southwest China’s Yunnan province said on Friday the governor of the burgeoning aluminium hub of Wenshan had been placed under investigation.
     Zhang Xiulan, who has been governor of Wenshan prefecture since March 2015, is suspected of “grave violations of discipline and the law,” the Yunnan Province Commission for Discipline Inspection said in a statement, without elaborating.

• (Chinese administrative division): jun, fu; chun, foo (obsolete); commandery (some contexts)

• prefect

• “prefecture”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.