Lesotho: flag of Lesotho, names, ISO codes and the 10 districts
Lesotho is Naha ea Lesotho in Sesotho, the Kingdom of Lesotho in English, coded LS, LSO and 426. Its flag shows a black Basotho hat on blue, white and green; its name is listed here in 85 languages, with Maseru and the 10 districts and their ISO 3166-2 codes.
Official languagesSesotho, English
Checked
- alpha-2
- LS
- alpha-3
- LSO
- numeric
- 426
Naha ea Lesotho
- English
- LesothoKingdom of Lesotho
- Capital
- MaseruMaseru
ISO 3166-1, checked 28 October 2026
The flag of Lesotho
The national flag of Lesotho is a horizontal tricolour of blue, white and green with a black mokorotlo, the Basotho hat, in the centre of the white band. It was adopted on 4 October 2006, the 40th anniversary of independence, and drawn in the proportion 2:3.
The design was meant to show a country at peace with itself and with South Africa, its only neighbour. It replaced the earlier flag, which carried a military emblem of a shield, a spear and a knobkerrie. Blue stands for the sky and rain, white for peace and green for prosperity; the specified colours are #001489 for the blue and #009A44 for the green.
Its companion among the state symbols is the national anthem, Lesotho Fatše La Bontata Rona.
Lesotho in other languages: list of exonyms
| Languages | ISO 639-2 | Name | Romanised |
|---|---|---|---|
| English, Afrikaans, Breton, Catalan, Czech, Welsh, Danish, German, Estonian, Basque, Finnish, French, Galician, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Malay, Dutch, Norwegian, Northern Sotho, Polish, Romansh, Romanian, Slovak, Sami, Sotho, Spanish, Swahili, Swedish, Turkish | eng / afr / bre / cat / ces / cym / dan / deu / est / eus / fin / fra / glg / hun / ind / ita / msa / nld / nor / nso / pol / roh / ron / slk / smi / sot / spa / swa / swe / tur | Lesotho | same as written |
| Azerbaijani, Esperanto, Faroese, West Frisian, Croatian, Igbo, Kinyarwanda, Kurdish, Latvian, Maltese, Portuguese, Rundi, Slovenian, Samoan, Albanian, Turkmen, Uzbek | aze / epo / fao / fry / hrv / ibo / kin / kur / lav / mlt / por / run / slv / smo / sqi / tuk / uzb | Lesoto | same as written |
| Scottish Gaelic | gla | Leosoto | same as written |
| Irish | gle | Leosota | same as written |
| Icelandic | isl | Lesótó | same as written |
| Latin | lat | Lesothum | same as written |
| Lithuanian | lit | Lesotas | same as written |
| Somali | som | Losooto | same as written |
| Vietnamese | vie | Lê-xô-thô | same as written |
| Abaza, Bulgarian, Chechen, Chuvash, Karakalpak, Kabardian, Kyrgyz, Komi, Macedonian, Mongolian, Ossetian, Russian, Serbian, Tajik, Ukrainian | abq / bul / che / chv / kaa / kbd / kir / kom / mkd / mon / oss / rus / srp / tgk / ukr | Лесото | Lesoto |
| Belarusian | bel | Лесота | Lesota |
| Arabic | ara | ليسوتو | Līsūtū |
| Persian | fas | لسوتو | Lesoto |
| Urdu | urd | لیسوتھو | Lesotho |
| Dhivehi | div | ލެސޯތޯ | Lesōthō |
| Amharic | amh | ሌሶቶ | Lesoto |
| Hebrew | heb | לסוטו | Lesōṭō |
| Greek | ell | Λεσότο | Lesóto |
| Armenian | hye | Լեսոտո | Lesoto |
| Georgian | kat | ლესოტო | Lesoto |
| Hindi | hin | लेसोथो | Lesotho |
| Tamil | tam | லெசோதோ | Lečōtō |
| Chinese | zho | 萊索托 | Laisuotuo |
| Japanese | jpn | レソト | Resoto |
| Korean | kor | 레소토 | Laesoto |
| Burmese | mya | လီဆိုသို | Lisʰoṯo |
| Thai | tha | เลโซโท | Lesotho |
Many languages drop the h of the th, so Lesoto is as common as Lesotho. Urdu writes the aspirated t with ھ.
Lesotho, Basotho, Sesotho: one stem, several words
Sesotho builds the names of the country, the people and the language on the same stem. Lesotho is the country, Mosotho one of its people, Basotho the people as a whole, and Sesotho the language. English takes over Lesotho and Basotho unchanged.
In other languages the name splits into two spellings. Most languages written in the Latin alphabet keep Lesotho; Portuguese, Croatian, Kurdish, Esperanto and others write Lesoto, and the scripts follow the same divide: Russian Лесото, Greek Λεσότο, Arabic ليسوتو (Līsūtū) and Japanese レソト (Resoto) drop the h, while Hindi लेसोथो (Lesotho) and Urdu لیسوتھو keep the aspirated t. Lithuanian writes Lesotas and Latin Lesothum.
Maseru, the capital, changes even less. Esperanto writes Maseruo, Greek writes Μασέρου (Masérou), and Arabic lists ماسيرو and مسيرو side by side.
Maseru in other languages
| Languages | ISO 639-2 | Name | Romanised |
|---|---|---|---|
| English, German, French | eng / deu / fra | Maseru | same as written |
| Esperanto | epo | Maseruo | same as written |
| Russian, Ukrainian | rus / ukr | Масеру | Maseru |
| Arabic | ara | ماسيرو, مسيرو | Māsīrū, Masīrū |
| Greek | ell | Μασέρου | Masérou |
| Chinese | zho | 馬塞廬 | Maselu |
| Japanese | jpn | マセル | Maseru |
| Korean | kor | 마세루 | Maseru |
| Thai | tha | มาเซรู |
The 10 districts of Lesotho
Lesotho is divided into ten districts, each run by a district administrator from its capital, called a camptown. ISO 3166-2:LS gives every district a one-letter code from A to K, without I, and the same name in English and Sesotho. Below the districts are 80 constituencies and 129 community councils.
| ISO 3166-2 | English and Sesotho | English | Administrative centre | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Districts10 | ||||
| LS-D | Berea | Berea District | TeyateyanengTeyateyaneng | |
| LS-B | Botha-Bothe | Botha-Bothe District | Butha-ButheButha-Buthe | 2020 Spelling changed from Butha-Buthe, now kept as a local variant |
| LS-C | Leribe | Leribe District | HlotseHlotse | |
| LS-E | Mafeteng | Mafeteng District | MafetengMafeteng | |
| LS-A | Maseru | Maseru District | MaseruMaseru | |
| LS-F | Mohale's Hoek | Mohale's Hoek District | Mohale's HoekMohale's Hoek | |
| LS-J | Mokhotlong | Mokhotlong District | MokhotlongMokhotlong | |
| LS-H | Qacha's Nek | Qacha's Nek District | Qacha's NekQacha's Nek | |
| LS-G | Quthing | Quthing District | MoyeniMoyeni | |
| LS-K | Thaba-Tseka | Thaba-Tseka District | Thaba-TsekaThaba-Tseka | |
Codes and names: ISO 3166-2:LS on the ISO Online Browsing Platform, read from the Wikipedia table that reproduces it, checked 28 October 2026; the change of 24 November 2020 is from the same table. Camptowns from Wikipedia's Districts of Lesotho, checked the same day.
From Maseru to Mohale's Hoek: the district names
Most districts share their name with their camptown. Three do not: Berea is run from Teyateyaneng, Leribe from Hlotse and Quthing from Moyeni. Maseru is the name of both a district and the national capital.
The only name change in the ISO list concerns one spelling. On 24 November 2020 ISO changed Butha-Buthe to Botha-Bothe and kept Butha-Buthe as a local variant; the town itself is still listed as Butha-Buthe. Mohale's Hoek and Qacha's Nek keep their apostrophes in both languages.
Questions about the flag, name and districts of Lesotho
What does the flag of Lesotho look like?
Three horizontal bands, blue, white and green, with a black Basotho hat (mokorotlo) in the middle. It has been the national flag since 4 October 2006.
What was on the old flag of Lesotho?
A military emblem of a shield, a spear and a knobkerrie. The 2006 flag replaced it with the hat.
What is the national anthem of Lesotho?
Lesotho Fatše La Bontata Rona.
How many districts does Lesotho have?
Ten, coded LS-A for Maseru to LS-K for Thaba-Tseka. Mohale's Hoek District is LS-F.
What are the ISO codes of Lesotho?
LS (alpha-2), LSO (alpha-3) and 426 (numeric).