stads

Stads is a Dutch term most commonly encountered as the derivational prefix stads- meaning city or urban, and as a noun related to stad meaning "city." In contemporary Dutch, stads- forms a wide range of urban-related compounds, such as stadscentrum (city centre), stadsdeel (city district), stadsbestuur (city government), and stadsplein (city square). The standalone word stad is used for the city, while stads appears predominantly in compounds and fixed expressions.

Historically, the term is tied to stadsrechten or city rights, privileges granted to towns by rulers that allowed self-government, market rights, fortifications, and local governance. Towns with stadsrechten could operate as autonomous urban settlements within a feudal framework. Over time, the concept evolved alongside the development of modern municipal law as jurisdictions centralized and reformed administration.

In other languages or contexts, stads is usually not a free-standing word and mainly appears as part of compound nouns or as a proper noun, such as a surname. It is common in the names of districts in Dutch-speaking cities, for example in terms like stadsdeel in Amsterdam. The term shares its root with the Dutch stad and the German Stadt; the English word state is etymologically unrelated.