Look up muhafazah in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

A muḥāfaẓah (Arabic: مُحَافَظَة‎ [muˈħaːfaðˤah]; pl. مَحَافَظَات muḥāfaẓāt [muħaːfaˈðˤaːt]) is a first-level administrative division of many Arab countries, and a second-level administrative division in Saudi Arabia. The term is usually translated to "governorate", and occasionally to "province". It comes from the Arabic root ح ف ظ ḥ-f-ẓ, which means to "keep" and "guard". The head of a muḥāfaẓah is the (مُحَافِظ) muḥāfiẓ .

Muhafazat in Arab countries

• Governorates of Bahrain
• Governorates of Egypt
• Governorates of Iraq
• Governorates of Jordan
• Governorates of Kuwait
• Governorates of Libya (historic)
• Governorates of Lebanon
• Governorates of Oman
• Governorates of Palestine
• Governorates of Saudi Arabia (2nd level)
• Governorates of Syria
• Governorates of Yemen

The governorates of Tunisia are wilāyah in Arabic.