contemporains

Contemporains is the plural form of the French adjective contemporain and can also function as a masculine noun. It generally means belonging to the same time or current, and when used as a noun it refers to people who live in the same period as someone else—peers or coevals. In everyday French, the adjective appears in phrases such as art contemporain (contemporary art) or écrivains contemporains (contemporary writers). As a noun, it is used in contexts like les contemporains de Napoléon to denote those who lived during that era.

Etymology and sense of time: contemporain comes from Latin contemporānus, formed from con- (together) and tempus (time). The word emphasizes temporal proximity rather than geographic or ideological similarity, and its exact nuance shifts with context—from broad cultural contemporaneity to a narrower biographical peer group.

Usage notes: In French, contemporains is common in historical and cultural commentary. In English-language writing, the strict plural noun form contemporains is rare; translators typically render the idea as contemporaries (for people) or contemporary (for things or periods). The French term often appears in discussions of art, literature, and history to situate works or figures within a shared period.

See also: contemporary art; contemporaneous; coeval; contemporaries.