The French (French: Français) are a nation and ethnic group native to France that share a common French culture and speak the French language as a mother tongue.

Historically, the French population descends from peoples of Celtic origin, later mixing with Romance and Germanic origin.

It is also an ethno-linguistic group based on ancestral ties, but within France, the French are defined by citizenship, regardless of ancestry or country of residence.

However, the word can also refer to people of French descent who are found in other countries, with significant French-speaking population groups or not, such as Canada (French Canadians), United States (French Americans), Argentina (French Argentines), United Kingdom (French British), Brazil (French Brazilians) and French West Indies (French Caribbean), and some of them have a French cultural identity