Daily Ancestordéfunt
Défunt means "deceased" in French; le défunt or la défunte is the dead person named in a burial or death record.
Défunt can be a noun, le défunt, the dead man, or an adjective, as in défunte Marie, the late Marie. Records use it much like feu, and it is the more common word in ordinary speech. Quebec indexes shorten it to def.
In marriage entries défunt or défunte in front of a parent's name shows the parent had died, and in burial entries the priest may refer to the person simply as le défunt after giving the name.
As seen in a recordBurial entry in a Catholic parish register, Quebec, 1870s
en présence des fils du défunt, Jérôme et Hilaire Brûlotte, qui ont signé avec nous
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How to cite this page
Daily Ancestor. "défunt." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/french/defunt. Last checked 2026-10-28.