Ținutul Prut was one of the ten Romanian ținuturi ("lands"), founded in 1938 after King Carol II initiated an institutional reform by modifying the 1923 Constitution and the law of territorial administration. It comprised parts of central Moldavia (and central Bessarabia), and was named after the Prut River; its capital was the city of Iași. Ținutul Prut ceased to exist following the territorial losses of Romania to the Soviet Union and the king's abdication in 1940.