A French creole, or French-based creole language, is a creole language (contact language with native speakers) for which French is the lexifier. Most often this lexifier is not modern French but rather a 17th-century koiné of French from Paris, the French Atlantic harbours, and the nascent French colonies. French-based creole languages are spoken by millions of people worldwide, primarily in the Americas and in the Indian Ocean. This article also contains information on French pidgin languages, contact languages that lack native speakers.
These contact languages are not to be confused with contemporary (non-creole) French language varieties spoken overseas in, for example, Canada (mostly in Quebec and the Maritime Provinces), the Canadian Prairie provinces, Louisiana, northern New England (Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont), and Saint-Barthélemy (leeward portion of the island).