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French India

American  

noun

  1. the five small former French territories in India, including Chandernagor, Karikal, Pondicherry, and Yanaon on the E coast, and Mahé on the W coast.


French India British  

noun

  1. a former French overseas territory in India, including Chandernagore and Pondicherry (now Puducherry): restored to India between 1949 and 1954

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

In the words of Gulf scholar Paul Rich, this was "the Indian Empire's last redoubt, just as Goa was Portuguese India's last solitary vestige, or Pondicherry was the tag-end of French India".

From BBC • Jun. 21, 2025

The following details relating to the Indian cotton industry are supplied officially:— Cotton Mills in India, including Mills in Native States and French India.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 7, Slice 5 "Cosway" to "Coucy" by Various

This "Ezourveidam" was lastly translated by a Brahmin, correspondent of the unfortunate French India Company.

From Voltaire's Philosophical Dictionary by Voltaire

Algeria is now safely French; India has been British for more than a century and a half.

From American World Policies by Weyl, Walter E.

"French India" to-day consists of Pondicherry, Karikal, Yanaon, Mahé, and Chandarnagar—196 square miles in all,—while the Indian Empire of Britain spreads over an area of 1,800,000 square miles.

From A Political and Social History of Modern Europe V.1. by Hayes, Carlton J. H.

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