Language is constantly changing, and many words used in old records could have a different meaning from the common meaning used today; therefore, dictionaries from earlier years or centuries are an excellent resource for researchers. Below is a list of common words that are found in French records to help understand them.

With every entry, there is the word, its gender, and the translation or definition. If an entry has a part in parenthesis at the end of the word then this shows the feminine form of the word. For example, the entry "Habitant(e)" means that "Habitant" is a male inhabitant while "Habitante" is a female inhabitant.

For access to several historical dictionaries combined and cross-referenced in a single website, see https://www.lexilogos.com/francais_dictionnaire.htm