Etat

Etat is the French term for "state" and is used to denote a political-legal entity governing a territory. In international and political discourse, État refers to a government as an organized authority within a defined jurisdiction. The word has roots in Latin and was adopted into many languages, influencing the English concept of state and related ideas of political organization.

Political science and sociology: The state is an institution that maintains order, provides public services, and exercises sovereignty within a territorial area. Classical theorists, such as Max Weber, define the state as a set of institutions with a monopoly on the legitimate use of violence. States differ in constitutions, levels of democracy, welfare provision, and administrative capacity, but share the fundamental function of organizing authority and public policy.

Other uses: In science and formal disciplines, "state" denotes a particular condition of a system at a given time. In physics, states of matter include solid, liquid, gas, and plasma; in quantum mechanics, a system's state is described by a state vector. In computing and information theory, a system can transition through finite states, and state machines model these transitions.

Usage notes: In French, État is capitalized when referring to a specific government (État, l’État fédéral); in other contexts the word functions as the translation of "state." The accent mark is an essential part of French spelling and may be omitted in non-French texts when transliterated, though correct usage preserves État.