It has been estimated that the English language has over 600,000 non-technical words. Very often a word in English has a meaning very similar to another word, but only one word is the word you want to use for the idea you want to express. In Chinese, the word 國 can be translated as kingdom, country, nation, or state. When writing in English, how do you know which word to use?
If English is not your native language, you may begin with your pocket translator. Let’s say your pocket translator tells you that 國 is translated as country. Is that the word you need to use?
Maybe it is; maybe it isn’t. Go to your thesaurus.
Maybe it is; maybe it isn’t. Go to your thesaurus.
Your thesaurus will give you the words kingdom, country, nation, and state as synonyms. It may include a few more. Next you turn to your dictionary and look up the words kingdom, country, nation, and state. A kingdom is a state ruled by a king or queen. A state is a geographical area ruled by a sovereign government. A country is a geographical area that is somehow regarded as “different” from the geographical areas around it. A nation is a cultural or ethnic group that sees itself as culturally or ethnically different from other groups. We usually understand nation as being a country that is culturally or ethnically separate from its neighbors.
Scotland and Wales are separate countries, but they are part of the same state: the United Kingdom. Since the United Kingdom is ruled by a queen, the UK is also a kingdom. Scotland and England are separate nations—the Gaelic and Anglo-Norman peoples—but they are part of the same state or kingdom: the UK. England and France are different states, countries, and nations; but, since France is not a kingdom, we would not say that England and France are separate kingdoms.
Here’s one other point regarding these words. We would call a country a kingdom only when drawing attention to the fact that it is ruled by a king or queen. We would call it a state only if we are referring specifically to its government. We would call it a nation only if we are drawing attention to its cultural or ethnic distinctiveness.