capital city

English

Pronunciation

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Noun

capital city (plural capital cities)

1. A city that is a seat of government.
2. A city (or cities) much larger or more important to a country than all others, regardless of the actual seat of government (cf., Moscow and Saint Petersburg regardless of moves of the Russian government; Amsterdam despite the Dutch government having been situated in The Hague since 1588).
3. (Australia) The major metropolitan areas of Australia (Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide), all of which happen to be state capitals, and by extension the major metropolitan areas of other countries; note that other state capitals Hobart, Darwin, and national capital Canberra are often excluded.

Synonyms

• (by ellipsis) capital

Translations

city designated as seat of government

• Abkhaz: аҳҭнықалақь (aḥtnəkalakʲ)
• Afrikaans: hoofstad (af)
• Akan: ahenkuro
• Albanian: kryeqytet (sq) m
• Amharic: ዋና ከተማ (wana kätäma)
• Arabic: عَاصِمَة (ar) f (ʕāṣima), حَاضِرَة f (ḥāḍira)

  Hijazi Arabic: عاصْمة f (ʕāṣma)

  South Levantine Arabic: عاصمة f (ʕāsme)

• Armenian: մայրաքաղաք (hy) (mayrakʿaġakʿ)
• Assamese: ৰাজধানী (razdhani)
• Asturian: capital (ast) f
• Avar: тахшагьар (taxšahar)
• Azerbaijani:

  Northern: baş şəhəri, paytaxt (az)

  Southern: باش‌شهر (baş şəher), پایتخت (paytaxt)

• Bashkir: башҡала (başqala)
• Basque: hiriburu (eu)
• Bavarian: Hauptstod
• Belarusian: сталі́ца f (stalíca), сто́льны го́рад m (stólʹny hórad) (archaic or poetic)
• Bengali: রাজধানী (bn) (rajdhani)
• Breton: kêrbenn
• Bulgarian: сто́лица (bg) f (stólica)
• Burmese: မြို့တော် (my) (mrui.tau)
• Buryat: ниислэл хото (niislel xoto), ниислэл (niislel)
• Carpathian Rusyn: головне місто n (holovne misto)
• Catalan: capital (ca) f
• Chechen: коьрта гӏала (körta ğala)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 首都 (sau² dou¹) (of a country), 省會／省会 (saang² wui⁶) (of a province), 京城 (ging¹ sing⁴) (literary), 龍城／龙城 (lung⁴ sing⁴) (literary)

  Dungan: җинчын (žinčɨn)

  Eastern Min: 首都 (siū-dŭ) (of a country)

  Hakka: 首都 (sú-tû) (of a country)

  Mandarin: 首都 (zh) (shǒudū) (of a country), 省會／省会 (zh) (shěnghuì) (of a province), 京城 (zh) (jīngchéng) (literary), 龍城／龙城 (zh) (lóngchéng) (literary)

  Southern Min: 首都 (zh-min-nan) (siú-to͘) (of a country)

  Wu: 首都 (²seu-tu) (of a country)

• Chukchi: эвынным (ėvynnym), авынгород (avyngorod)
• Chuvash: тĕп хула (tĕp hula)
• Coptic: ⲙⲉⲧⲣⲟⲡⲟⲗⲓⲥ f (metropolis)
• Crimean Tatar: paytaht
• Czech: hlavní město (cs) n
• Danish: hovedstad (da) c
• Dhivehi: ވެރިރަށް (veriraṣ̊)
• Dutch: hoofdstad (nl) f
• East Central German: Hauptstoadt f (Silesian)
• Erzya: прявтош (pŕavtoš)
• Esperanto: ĉefurbo (eo)
• Estonian: pealinn (et)
• Faroese: høvuðsstaður (fo) m
• Finnish: pääkaupunki (fi)
• French: capitale (fr) f (of nation), chef-lieu (fr) m (of a region or département)
• Friulian: capitâl f
• Gagauz: baş kasaba
• Galician: capital (gl)
• Georgian: დედაქალაქი (dedakalaki), სატახტო ქალაქი (saṭaxṭo kalaki)
• German: Hauptstadt (de) f
• Greek: πρωτεύουσα (el) f (protévousa)

  Ancient: μητρόπολις f (mētrópolis)

• Guaraní: tavusu
• Gujarati: રાજધાની (rājdhānī)
• Hawaiian: kapikala
• Hebrew: בִּירָה (he) f (birá)
• Hindi: राजधानी f (rājdhānī), दारुलहुकूमत m (dārulhukūmat)
• Hungarian: főváros (hu)
• Hunsrik: Hauptstatt f
• Icelandic: höfuðborg (is) f
• Ido: chef-urbo (io)
• Indonesian: ibu kota (id)
• Ingrian: päälinna, stolitsa
• Irish: príomhchathair (ga) f, ceannphort m, ardchathair (ga) f
• Italian: (of nation) capitale (it) f, (of a state or regione) capoluogo (it) m
• Japanese: 首都 (ja) (しゅと, shuto), 都 (ja) (みやこ, miyako)
• Javanese: ibu kutha
• Kachchi: રાજધાની (rājdhānī)
• Kalmyk: хотл балһсн (xotl balğsn)
• Kannada: ರಾಜಧಾನಿ (kn) (rājadhāni)
• Kashubian: stolëca (csb) f
• Kazakh: астана (astana), елорда (elorda)
• Khmer: រដ្ឋធានី (rŏətthaʼthiənii), រាជធានី (km) (riəcthiənii)
• Komi-Permyak: юркар (jurkar)
• Komi-Zyrian: юркар (jurkar)
• Kongo: mbanza-kimfumu
• Korean: 수도(首都) (ko) (sudo), 서울 (ko) (seoul)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: پایتەخت (paytext)

  Northern Kurdish: paytext (ku)

• Kyrgyz: борбор (ky) (borbor), борбор шаар (borbor şaar), ордошаар (ordoşaar), башкалаа (başkalaa)
• Lao: ເມືອງຫລວງ (mư̄ang lūang), ນະຄອນຫລວງ (na khǭn lūang), ກຸງ (lo) (kung)
• Latin: archisolium n (Medieval)
• Latvian: galvaspilsēta (lv) f
• Ligurian: capitâle
• Lithuanian: sostinė (lt) f
• Low German:

  Dutch Low Saxon: heufdstad f

  German Low German: Hööftstadt f

• Lule Sami: oajvvestáda
• Luxembourgish: Haaptstad (lb) f
• Macedonian: главен град m (glaven grad), престолнина f (prestolnina)
• Malagasy: renivohiny (mg)
• Malay: ibu negara (ms) (of country), ibu negeri (of state), ibu kota (in general)
• Malayalam: തലസ്ഥാനം (ml) (talasthānaṁ)
• Maltese: belt kapitali
• Manchu: ᡤᡝᠮᡠᠨ (gemun), ᡥᡝᠴᡝᠨ (hecen)
• Manx: ard-valley m, preeu-valley m
• Maori: tino tāone, tāone matua
• Marathi: राजधानी f (rājdhānī)
• Moksha: пряош (pŕaoš)
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: нийслэл хот (mn) (niislel xot), нийслэл (mn) (niislel)

• Moore: na-tẽnga
• Navajo: Wááshindoon bikin
• Nepali: राजधानी (ne) (rājdhānī)
• Northern Sami: oaivegávpot
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: hovedstad (no) m

  Nynorsk: hovudstad m

• Odia: ରାଜଧାନୀ (rajôdhani)
• Old Church Slavonic:

  Cyrillic: стольнъ градъ m (stolĭnŭ gradŭ)

• Old English: hēafodburg f
• Old Norse: hǫfuðstaðr m
• Ossetian: сӕйраг сахар (sæjrag saxar)
• Ottoman Turkish: پایتخت (payitaht)
• Pashto: پلازمېنه f (plâzmena), پايتخت (ps) m (pāytaxt)
• Persian:

  Dari: پَایْتَخْت (fa) (pāytaxt)

  Iranian Persian: پایْتَخْت (fa) (pâytaxt)

• Pitcairn-Norfolk: kapitel citii
• Polish: stolica (pl) f
• Portuguese: capital (pt) f
• Punjabi:

  Eastern: ਰਾਜਧਾਨੀ (rājdhānī)

  Western: راجگڑھ (rājgaṛh)

• Romani:

  Kalo Finnish Romani: ȟeeresko fooros

• Romanian: capitală (ro) f
• Romansch: chapitala f (Rumantsch Grischun, Vallader), capitala f (Sursilvan, Surmiran), tgapitala f (Sutsilvan), chapitela f (Puter), cauliug m (Sursilvan)
• Russian: столи́ца (ru) f (stolíca), сто́льный град m (stólʹnyj grad) (archaic or poetic)
• Sanskrit: राजधानी (sa) f (rājadhānī)
• Santali: ᱨᱟᱡᱽᱜᱟᱲ
• Scots: caipital ceety
• Scottish Gaelic: prìomh-bhaile
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: главни град m, пре́сто̄ница f, прије́сто̄лница f

  Roman: glavni grad (sh) m, préstōnica (sh) f, prijéstōlnica (sh) f

• Shor: ӧӧн тура (öön tura)
• Sicilian: capitali (scn)
• Sinhalese: අගනුවර (si) (aganuwara)
• Slovak: hlavné mesto n
• Slovene: glavno mesto (sl) n, prestolnica (sl) f
• Somali: caasimad, magaalomadax
• Sorbian:

  Upper Sorbian: stolica f, stolica f

• Spanish: capital (es) f
• Sranan Tongo: mamafoto
• Sundanese: dayeuh
• Swabian: Haubdschdadd
• Swahili: mji mkuu (sw)
• Swedish: huvudstad (sv) c
• Tagalog: kapital, ulunlunsod, pununglunsod
• Tajik: пойтахт (tg) (poytaxt)
• Tamil: தலைநகர் (talainakar)
• Tatar: башкала (tt) (başkala)
• Telugu: రాజధాని (te) (rājadhāni)
• Thai: เมืองหลวง (th) (mʉʉang-lǔuang), นครหลวง (th) (ná-kɔɔn-lǔuang), กรุง (th) (grung)
• Tibetan: རྒྱལ་ས (rgyal sa)
• Tigrinya: ርእሲ ከተማ (rəʾsi kätäma)
• Turkish: başkent (tr), başşehir (tr), asitane, paytaht (tr), ken (tr)
• Turkmen: paýtagt
• Udmurt: шоркар (šorkar)
• Ukrainian: столи́ця (uk) f (stolýcja), сто́льний град m (stólʹnyj hrad) (archaic or poetic)
• Urdu: دارُالْحُکُومَت m (dār-ul-hukūmat), دارُ الْحُکُومَت m (dāru l-hukūmat), پائے تَخْت m (pāe taxt)
• Uyghur: پايتەخت (paytext)
• Uzbek: poytaxt (uz)
• Venetian: cavedal
• Vietnamese: thủ đô (vi) (首都) (of nation), thủ phủ (vi) (首府) (of province, state or region)
• Volapük: cifazif (vo), (older term) glezif
• Welsh: prifddinas (cy) f
• West Frisian: haadstêd (fy)
• Western Kayah: ꤠꤟꤤ꤭ꤗꤟꤌꤣ (vī̤mṳeoe)
• Yakut: киин куорат (kiin kuorat)
• Yiddish: הויפּטשטאָט f (hoyptshtot)
• Zhuang: soujduh (of a country), gingsingz (of a country)