A person who speaks French as their first or primary language; also used as an adjective to describe French-speaking peoples or regions.
From Franco- (relating to France) plus -phone (Greek -phonos meaning 'sound' or 'speaker'). Emerged in the 20th century as decolonization spread French globally and required a term for all French speakers.
There are now more francophones in Africa than in France itself—French colonialism's linguistic legacy accidentally created a global French-speaking community that stretches from Brussels to Kinshasa to Quebec, speaking the colonizer's language.
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