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Language Foundation

country code

A country code is the number at the beginning of an international telephone number that identifies the country or group of countries to which the number belongs.

In plain English

At the start of an international phone number, a small set of digits shows which country, or sometimes group of countries, the number is associated with. That leading number is the country code.

In context

Here, it indicates that the requested value is the leading international number that identifies the country or group of countries for the telephone number.

Situation
Profile setup, contact details, verification fields, and preference settings
What it communicates
labels the phone-entry field for the international dialing code.

Meaning limits

By itself, the term does not specify the rest of the telephone number beyond that identifying number at the beginning.

Examples

“The two overseas offices shared the same local digits, but their country codes at the start were different.”

Core meaning

“The operator asked for the country code first and then wrote down the rest of the number.”

In context

  • country calling code Near Synonym

    In this telephone-number sense, it refers to the identifying number at the start that points to a country or group of countries.

  • area code Contrast

    An area code identifies a smaller geographic area within a numbering system, not the country or group of countries itself.