traitant

Traitant is the present participle of the French verb traiter. It can function as an adjective meaning “performing a treatment” or as a noun meaning “one who treats,” though as a standalone noun it is relatively uncommon. The form is used in various domains to indicate someone or something that handles, processes, or treats something.

In medical usage, traitant appears most prominently in the compound médecin traitant, referring to the treating physician or primary care doctor responsible for a patient’s ongoing care. The term emphasizes the role of the clinician who administers treatment and coordinates follow-up.

In data protection and administrative contexts, traitant can be used to denote a party that processes or handles data or information. However, in modern privacy law the preferred terms are the responsible for processing (responsable du traitement) and the data processor or contractor (sous-traitant). Traitant may appear in older texts, in generic or non-specialist language, or as a descriptive label for someone carrying out a processing task.

Linguistically, traitant is an instance of the French -ant participial suffix, which forms actor-nouns from verbs (travailler → travailant is uncommon; traite → traitant is standard). As an adjective, it describes the action of treating or processing in progress.

See also: traiter, traitement, médecin traitant, responsable du traitement, sous-traitant.