Iran's counties (shahrestan, Persian: شهرستان, also romanized as šahrestân) are administrative divisions of larger provinces (ostan). The word shahrestan comes from the Persian words šahr ("city, town") and stân ("province, state"). "County," therefore, is a near equivalent to shahrestan. Counties are divided into one or more districts (baxš بخش). A typical district includes both cities (šahr شهر) and rural districts (dehestân دهستان), which are groupings of adjacent villages. One city within the county serves as the capital of that county, generally in its Central District.