demonyms - Is there a difference between "Frenchmen" and "French men"?


I was just reading a news article about a couple of French men and was wondering what (if any) the difference between that and Frenchmen is?



Answer



"Frenchmen" could refer to French people collectively, including French women. For example:



National Stereotypes in Perspective: Americans in France, Frenchmen in America [1]


It seems that many lower-class Englishmen still harbour a Napoleonic dislike of Frenchmen [2]



It can, of course, also refer to any smaller group of French persons:



Where would you take a couple of Frenchmen [in L.A. area]? [3]



"French men" refers just to men from France (all of them or a specific group, depending on context), but not women. Example:



French men are three times more likely than French women to kill themselves [4]



I think that is the principal difference.


So, in the context of a news article about a couple of people, using "French men" at least makes it clear right away that all of them were men. Using "Frenchmen" would have left that unspecified.


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