Raion
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 An administrative unit of some Eastern European and Asian states.
"Below the oblasts come cities of oblast subordination and raiony. At the bottom we find rural and settlement soviets. We should note that certain very small cities will be subordinate to the raion level. In larger cities there will also be urban raiony. In the republics of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaidzhan and Moldavia, there are no oblasts and thus the raiony and cities here will be subordinate to the Republic level."
Example
More examples"Below the oblasts come cities of oblast subordination and raiony. At the bottom we find rural and settlement soviets. We should note that certain very small cities will be subordinate to the raion level. In larger cities there will also be urban raiony. In the republics of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaidzhan and Moldavia, there are no oblasts and thus the raiony and cities here will be subordinate to the Republic level."
Etymology
Borrowed from Russian райо́н (rajón), from French rayon. More recently influenced by the same name used in other post-Soviet states. Compare Ukrainian райо́н (rajón).
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.