Other forms: councils
A council is the elected group that runs local matters for a town. Bins, roads, schools, planning permission.
In Britain the word is inseparable from local government, giving us the council, council tax, a council estate and council housing. Beyond that it names any formal body that meets to decide things, from a student council to the Security Council. The person on one is a councillor. Keep the spelling clear of counsel, which means advice or a lawyer, and is a different word with a different job.
1nouncouncilAn elected body that governs a town or district.~57%
“The council refused planning permission.”
2noungroupAny formal group that meets to advise or decide.~43%
“He sat on the college council for years.”
Shares are an estimate: a language model read 14 sentences found in the wild and placed 14 of them on a sense — a count of our sample, not a measurement of English.
A council is a body that deliberates. Middle English counseil came from Old French conseil, advice or deliberation, and behind that Latin cōnsilium, a plan or a purpose, from cōnsulō, to take counsel.
Proto-Indo-European
*kelh₁-
Proto-Indo-European
*selh₁- — take, grab
Latin
cōnsilium — plan, intention, design, purpose
Old French
conseil — advice, deliberation, thought
Middle English
counseil — meeting, conference, commune
English, today
council
Built from
Middle English counseil (“meeting, conference, commune”), from Old French conseil (“advice, deliberation, thought”), from Latin cōnsilium (“plan, intention, design, purpose”), from cōnsulō (“consult, seek counsel from, take counsel from, deliberate, reflect”), from Proto-Indo-European selh₁- (“take, grab”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA