A (pronounced as /ar/; Arabic: مُحَافَظَات pronounced as /ar/) is a first-level administrative division of many Arab countries, and a second-level administrative division in Saudi Arabia. The term is usually translated as "governorate", and occasionally as "province". It comes from the Arabic root Arabic: ح-ا-ف-ظ (verb: حافظ ḥafaẓa), which means to "keep" and "guard". The head of a is the (Arabic: مُحَافِظ) .
The governorates of Tunisia are wilāyah in Arabic.