A daïra or daerah (circle; plural dawaïr) is an administrative division in Algeria and Western Sahara in West Africa, as well as Brunei, Indonesia and Malaysia in Southeast Asia. It is commonly translated in English as "district".
See main article: Districts of Algeria and Districts of Western Sahara. "Daïra" is the primary spelling variant used in Algeria and Western Sahara. It is a subdivision of wilayah in both countries.
"Daerah" is an Arabic loanword in Malay and Indonesian, which is cognate with "daïra".
See main article: Districts of Brunei. A daerah or district is the primary subdivision of Brunei. There are four Malay: daerah, namely Belait, Brunei-Muara, Temburong and Tutong. A daerah is subdivided into mukims (equivalent to subdistricts) and subsequently villages (Malay: kampung).
See also: Provinces of Indonesia. In Indonesia, "daerah" is used as in the term Indonesian: daerah istimewa, which refers to the Special Regions or provinces with special status. There are two Special Regions, namely Aceh and Special Region of Yogyakarta, and there are seven Special Autonomous Regions or Daerah Otonomi Khusus, they are Central Papua, Highland Papua, Papua, South Papua, Southwest Papua, West Papua and Jakarta.
See main article: Districts of Malaysia. A daerah or district is a type of state administrative divisions in Malaysia. It is the primary subdivision of the states in Peninsular Malaysia, where as in Sabah and Sarawak in Malaysian Borneo, it is the secondary subdivision which is below divisions.[1] Regardless, any daerah may be subdivided into mukims.