township
n. countablen. a small town or a specific area of land that has its own local government. In some countries, it also refers to a place where people were forced to live in the past.
n. a unit of local government or a specific administrative district, often representing a subdivision of a county. In the South African context, it refers to an underdeveloped urban area formerly reserved for non-white residents under apartheid.
The local township council meets every Tuesday to discuss road repairs.
After the new law passed, the rural township gained more control over its own school funding and zoning.
The historical development of the township reflects broader patterns of migration and the administrative challenges of managing rapidly expanding suburban peripheries.
From Middle English towneship, townschip, tounshipe, tunscipe, from Old English tūnsċipe (“the inhabitants of a town; township”), equivalent to town + -ship.
Commonly used in North America to describe a geographical division of a county, and in South Africa to describe specific urban residential areas.