Ontario government terminology

Search for government names and terms

Search for official government names, geographic names and ministry-specific terms using the three ONTERM databases:

• Official Names Ontario
• GeoNames Ontario
• Lexicons Ontario

You can switch between the databases by selecting “Select TermBase” on the search page.

Official Names Ontario

Use Official Names Ontario to find official names in English and French, including:

• government programs and initiatives
• public policies
• ministries, agencies and their units
• position titles

GeoNames Ontario

Use GeoNames Ontario to find Ontario’s geographic names, including:

• counties
• parks
• municipalities
• rivers
• lakes

Lexicons Ontario

Use Lexicons Ontario to find specialized terms used by Ontario ministries and within the Ontario Public Service.

Ministry-specific lexicons

Find terms used by Ontario ministries:

• children and youth services
• education, colleges and universities
• emergency management
• environment and energy
• health sector (health, long-term care and hospitals)
• justice sector (correctional services and legislative terms)
• labour

Ontario Public Service lexicons

Find terms commonly used by the Ontario Public Service, including:

• gender identity
• commonly used abbreviated forms
• titles of corporate directives, operating policies and guidelines
• government websites
• job ads
• news releases
• signage

Language used in key government plans

Find terms commonly used in key government planning documents:

• ministry accessibility reports
• expenditure estimates and estimates briefing books

Reference lists of government officials, ministries and electoral districts

Find official names and titles of ministers, ministries, electoral districts and more, in English and French.

Guides and terminology resources

Use these documents and resources to assist you with your work:

• style guides - find the recommended style to use in Ontario government documents
• best practices for embedded glossaries - tips on how to handle embedded glossaries in documents that must be translated into French
• Quality Standard (PDF) - edited version of the Quality Standard that is part of Ontario government agreements with vendors
• terminology kit (PDF) - guidelines on terminology research and a list of resources
• gender identity terms and resources - find the preferred terms to refer to members of the trans and non-binary community
• additional references - sites which may be of interest to ONTERM users

About the Terminology Unit

The Terminology Unit in the Government Translation Service of the Ministry of Public and Business Service Delivery has the mandate to:

• create Ontario government official terminology in French
• develop corporate guidelines on preferred French-language usage
• manage official terminology in English and French through the ONTERM Official Names Ontario database

If you have questions about Ontario government names, please submit a terminology request or contact the Terminology Unit at onterm@ontario.ca.