capital city

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌkæpɪtəl ˈsɪti/

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Noun

capital city (plural capital cities)

2. A city that is a seat of government.
3. 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).
4. (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, kryevend (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 (ʕāṣme) Armenian: մայրաքաղաք (hy) (mayrakʻaġakʻ) Assamese: ৰাজধানী (razdhani) Asturian: capital (ast) f Avar: тахшагьар (taxšahar) Azerbaijani: Northern: baş şəhər, paytaxt (az) Southern: باش‌شهر (baş şəhər), 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) Chichewa: likulu class 5 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), 首府 (zh) (shǒufǔ) Southern Min: 首都 (zh-min-nan) (siú-to͘) (of a country) Wu: 首都 (5seu-tu1) (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) 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 (ms) (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 (präoš) 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 (rājadhāni) 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) Pannonian Rusyn: престолнїца f (prestolnjica), главни варош m (hlavni varoš), престолни варош m (prestolni varoš) Pashto: پلازمېنه f (plâzmena), پايتخت (ps) m (pāytaxt) Persian: Dari: پَایْتَخْت (pāytaxt) Iranian Persian: پایْتَخْت (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) Silesian: stolica f Sinhalese: අගනුවර (si) (aganuwara) Slovak: hlavné mesto n Slovene: glavno mesto (sl) n, prestolnica (sl) f Somali: caasimad, magaalomadax Sorbian: Lower Sorbian: stolica f Upper Sorbian: 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, kabisera 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, payitaht (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) Venetan: 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)