French words in old records · card M

mil

Mil is the old spelling of "thousand" used in written-out years, as in mil huit cent quarante-deux, 1842.

French records often write the date in words, and the year begins with mil, an old form of mille that by custom was preferred when other numbers follow. Mil huit cent soixante means one thousand eight hundred sixty, 1860. Both spellings were accepted for dates.

Read the year in parts: mil, then the hundreds (sept cent, huit cent), then the rest. Watch the compound numbers, since 1790 is mil sept cent quatre-vingt-dix, literally one thousand seven hundred four-twenty-ten.

As seen in a recordDate line of a Catholic parish register entry, Quebec, 1850s
le dix-neuf juin mil huit cent cinquante-trois
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How to cite this page

Daily Ancestor. "mil." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/french/mil. Last checked 2026-10-28.

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