American (word) ("United States person"), which derives from ' ("United States of America"). The Spanish term ' ("North American") is frequently used to refer things and persons from the United States, but this term can also denote people and things from Canada and Mexico. Among Spanish-speakers, North America generally doesn't include Central America or the Caribbean. In other languages, however, there is no possibility for confusion. For example, the Chinese word for "U.S. national" is ' () is derived from a word for the United States, ', where ' is an abbreviation for "Yàměilìjiā" ("America") and ' is "country". The name for
Country can refer both to sovereign states and to other political entities, while other times it can refer only to states. For example, the "CIA World Factbook" uses the word in its "Country name" field to refer to "a wide variety of dependencies, areas of special sovereignty, uninhabited islands, and other entities in addition to the traditional countries or independent states". The word "country" comes from Old French "contrée", which derives from Vulgar Latin ("terra") "contrata" ("(land) lying opposite"; "(land) spread before"), derived from "contra" ("against, opposite"). It most likely entered the English language after the Franco-Norman invasion during the 11th