Résum

Résum is not a standard entry in English or French on its own. In practice, it is usually a misspelling or truncation of related terms such as résumé or resume. The accented form résumé is a loanword from French, where the noun means a brief account or a summary, and in English it commonly denotes a document that lists a person’s education and work experience for job applications. The unaccented form resume is widely used in American English for the same CV sense, and also appears as the verb to resume in other contexts.

In French, résumé means a summary and is used in similar ways to the English noun, including for a summary of a text or a brief overview. In English, résumés (with accents) and resumes (without accents) are both used, with the latter becoming increasingly common in the United States and other English-speaking regions. The unaccented spelling can also be a source of ambiguity because resume is also the conventional spelling of the verb “to resume,” meaning to continue after an interruption.

Usage and style vary by region and field. Some style guides recommend retaining the accents when writing in English to signal the word’s French origin, while others advise using the plain form resume for readability. For French contexts, résumé is standard and accented. When writing about the topic in English, it is helpful to clarify whether you mean a CV or a general summary.

See also: Curriculum vitae, résumé, resume, abstract, summary.