Etymologically an emirate or amirate (Arabic: إمارة‎, Imaarah ; plural: إمارات, Imaraat) is the quality, dignity, office or territorial competence of any Emir (prince, governor etc. Arabic (ar الْعَرَبيّة (informally ar عَرَبيْ) in terms of the number of speakers is the largest living member of the Semitic language Emir ( Arabic: ar أمير;, female أميرة; emira;) ( Farsi and Urdu: امیر) ).

As monarchies

Generally speaking, an emirate designates a political territory that is ruled by a dynastic Arab Monarch styled emir. Emir ( Arabic: ar أمير;, female أميرة; emira;) ( Farsi and Urdu: امیر) As most emirates have either disappeared, been integrated in a larger modern state or changed their rulers' styles, e. g. to Malik (Arabic for King) or Sultan, such true emirate-states have become rare. Malik (ملك) as an Arabic word meaning " king " It has been adopted in various other mainly Asian languages for their ruling princes and to Sultan (سلطان is an Islamic title with several historical meanings

An example of this use persists in the United Arab Emirates, a federal nation that comprises seven federal emirates, each administered by a hereditary emir, these seven forming the electoral college for the federation's President and PM. An electoral college is a set of many electors who are empowered to elect a candidate to a particular Office.

As provinces

Furthermore, in Arabic the term can be generalized to mean any province of a country that is administered by a member of the ruling class, especially of a member (usually styled emir) of the royal family, as in Saudi Arabian governorates. Arabic (ar الْعَرَبيّة (informally ar عَرَبيْ) in terms of the number of speakers is the largest living member of the Semitic language Emir ( Arabic: ar أمير;, female أميرة; emira;) ( Farsi and Urdu: امیر) The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, KSA ( المملكة العربية السعودية, al-Mamlaka al-ʻArabiyya as-Suʻūdiyya) or Suudi

List of independent Emirates

• Kuwait
• Qatar
• United Arab Emirates

List of former and integrated emirates

• Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan
• The Emirate of Armenia
• Islamic Emirate of Waziristan
• Az Zubayr
• Bahrain, became a kingdom in 2002
• Emirate of Trarza, modern southwest Mauritania 1640s-1910s