Shire (/ʃaɪər/, also /ʃɪər/) is a traditional term for an administrative division of land in Great Britain and some other English-speaking countries. It is generally synonymous with county (such as Cheshire and Worcestershire). British counties are among the oldest extant national divisions in the world.
It was first used in Wessex from the beginning of Anglo-Saxon settlement, and spread to most of the rest of England in the 10th century. Today, 23 counties bear the "-shire" suffix in England, 23 in Scotland, and 10 in Wales. In some rural parts of Australia, a shire is a local government area; however, in Australia, it is not synonymous with a "county", which is a lands administrative division.