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Ajudeț (pronounced[ʒuˈdets], pluraljudețe[ʒuˈdetse]) is anadministrative division inRomania, and was also used from 1940 to 1947 in theMoldavian Soviet Socialist Republic and from 1998 to 2003 inMoldova.
There are 41județe in Romania, divided intomunicipii (municipalities),orașe (cities) andcomune (communes). Eachjudeț has a county seat (reședință de județ) which serves as its administrative capital; this designation usually belongs to the largest and most developed city in the respective county. The centralgovernment is represented by oneprefect in everyjudeț.
The capital,Bucharest, is not ajudeț, but a special municipality with identical functions, which also acts as the county seat ofIlfov.
In theRomanian Principalities, thejudeț was an office with administrative and judicial functions, corresponding to bothjudge andmayor. The word is etymologically rooted in theLatin "judicium", and is thereforecognate to other administrative institutions like theSardiniangiudicati, or terms likejurisdiction andjudge.
In Romanian, the termjudeț does not take an initial capital unless it is the first word of a sentence.