hellène

Hellène is the French ethnonym used to designate a person of Greek ethnicity, especially a woman. In English-language contexts, the form Hellene exists as a scholarly or historical spelling for a Greek person; the plural Hellènes is used in French texts to refer to Greeks, and the feminine Hellène appears in French where appropriate. The term derives from Hellen, the mythical progenitor of the Hellenes, and from the ancient Greek ethnonym Hellenes, used by Greeks themselves to describe their people. In modern Greek, self-designation is Ellinas (Έλληνας) for a man and Ellinída (Ελληνίδα) for a woman, while the terms Greek, Hellenic, or Grec are more common in Western languages.

Historically, Hellène appeared in 19th-century and early 20th-century European literature, archaeology, and ethnography to denote Greeks, sometimes with emphasis on classical heritage or ethnic identity. In nationalist or scholarly discourse, the term could be used to stress ancient Greek roots or to distinguish ethnic Greeks within broader populations. In contemporary usage, Hellène is generally considered archaic or literary in French and is rarely used in English outside historical or philological contexts.

See also Hellenism, Hellenic world, Greek people.