A French term for a male member of the nobility or a gentleman of good family and breeding.
From French gentil (noble) plus homme (man), literally 'a noble man,' used especially in feudal France to denote a man of good family and social standing.
In medieval France, 'gentilhomme' had very specific legal meaning—it determined your taxes, which laws applied to you, and who you could marry, making language literally a matter of legal and economic power.
Gentilhomme (French: 'gentle man') is explicitly masculine. Medieval and early modern French had no standard equivalent for women of equivalent rank; they were referenced through relation to male kin (femme de, épouse de) rather than with autonomous status.
If discussing historical French nobility, use 'gentle person of rank' or 'person of noble birth' to avoid gender exclusion. For the historical term itself, note its masculine presumption when encountered.
["person of gentle birth","noble of the realm","woman/man of the gentry"]
Noblewomen held land, negotiated treaties, and commanded armies—yet were legally subsumed under gentilhomme structures. Recovery of women's names (Anne of Beaujeu, Marguerite of Navarre) restores their autonomous roles.
Complete word intelligence in one call. Free tier — 50 lookups/day.