Twin Towns and Sister Cities - Terminology

Terminology

In the United Kingdom, the term twin towns is most commonly used, generally referring to town-twinning with Europe, differentiating with the term sister cities, which is used for agreements with towns and cities in the Americas. In Europe, a variety of terms are used; most commonly twin towns, but partnership towns, partner towns and friendship towns, are also used. Germany and Poland use Partnerstadt (Ger.) / Miasto Partnerskie (Pol.) (Partner Town/City), France uses Ville Jumelée (Twinned Town/City), while Italy has gemellaggio (twinning) and comune gemellato (twinned municipality). In the Netherlands, the term Stedenband (City bond) is used. North America, South America, South Asia, and Australasia generally use the term sister cities. In China, the term friendship city (友好城市, yǒuhǎo chéngshì) is used, since Confucianism imbues kinship terms with a hierarchical connotation. In the former Soviet Bloc countries twin towns is used, as well as the term brother cities.

Sometimes, other government bodies enter into a "twinning" relationship, such as the agreement between the provinces of Hainan in China and Jeju-do in South Korea.

The Douzelage is a town twinning association with one town from each of the member states of the European Union.