gens
French, noun/ʒɑ̃/
gens is spelled G-E-N-S (4 letters) and appears 631 times per million words in written French, the 132nd most frequent French word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Gens is a French masculine noun meaning “set of people” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) defines it as “Personnes en nombre indéterminé”.
What does gens mean in English?
noun
- 1
masculineset of people
Ces gens-là ont toujours été sympas avec moi.
Source: English Wiktionary, French section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How French dictionaries define it
noun: 1. Personnes en nombre indéterminé. 2. Population, dans un ensemble indistinct, sans relief. 3. Tous ceux qui sont d’un état, d’une profession quelconque. 4. Ceux qui sont d’un parti, par opposition à ceux de l’autre.
noun: 1. Clan familial.
The definition in the French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire), in French.
Source: French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire), dump of September 1, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org.
Forms of gens
- gentes plural
Source: English Wiktionary and French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How do you pronounce gens?
- /ʒɑ̃/
- Canada /ʒã/
- /ʒɑ̃s/
Sources: English Wiktionary, French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.
English words that translate to gens
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is gens in French?
gens appears 631 times per million words in written French.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).