kirkonkylä

Etymology
,, from + , cognate with 🇨🇬, from  +

Noun

 * 1)  The village in a rural municipality in which the main church and the vicariate were located.

Usage notes
The boundaries of municipalities and parishes used to be the same. Usually the was also in other respects the most important village in a municipality, e.g. by being the location of municipal offices. Industrialization and railways changed this to a certain extent, and the reduction in the number of municipalities (through mergers) that has progressively taken place since the 1960s has further eroded this connection. The central township of a municipality is currently officially called, but the term is frequently used in common language and in place names.