voivodeship

From voivode (“local ruler or official in parts of central and eastern Europe; administrative chief in Poland”) +‎ -ship (suffix forming nouns indicating properties or states of being).^[1] Voivode is variously derived from a number of Slavic languages including Bulgarian войвода (vojvoda), Czech vojevoda, Polish wojewoda, Russian воево́да (vojevóda), and Serbo-Croatian vojvoda, војвода, all from Proto-Slavic *vojevoda (“army leader; duke; warlord”), from *voji (“army”) (probably ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *weyh₁- (“to chase, pursue; to persecute; to suppress”)) + *-e- + *vodìti (“to conduct; to lead”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *wedʰ- (“to lead”)). Sense 3 is a semantic loan from Polish województwo.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈvɔɪˌvəʊdˌʃɪp/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈvɔɪˌvoʊdˌʃɪp/
• Hyphenation: voi‧vode‧ship

voivodeship (countable and uncountable, plural voivodeships)

1. (countable, uncountable) The office, position, rank, or title of a voivode (“a local ruler or official in various parts of central and eastern Europe; an administrative chief in modern Poland”).
2. (countable, uncountable) The jurisdiction of a voivode, comparable to a countship or a county.

   Synonym: voivodate

3. (countable) The highest-level administrative subdivision of Poland, comparable to a province or state.

• vaivodeship, waiwodeship

•   voivodeship on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
•   voivodeships of Poland on Wikipedia.Wikipedia