村长 (cūn zhǎng) literally combines 村 (cūn), meaning 'village', and 长 (zhǎng), meaning 'head' or 'leader'. It refers to the elected or appointed leader of a rural administrative village in China — a position recognized under China’s Organic Law of Village Committees. The village head oversees local affairs such as public infrastructure, dispute mediation, agricultural coordination, and implementation of government policies at the grassroots level.

Historically rooted in traditional rural governance, the role is now formalized through democratic elections held every three years. While not a civil servant in the strict bureaucratic sense, the village head serves as the primary liaison between villagers and higher-level township or county governments. The term is neutral in register and widely used in both official documents and everyday speech when referring to this specific leadership role in rural communities.