This is the 1143rd most frequent French word.
francophone
Francophone: A person or community that speaks French, either natively or fluently.
Here, 'francophones' refers to people who speak French as part of their identity or community.
Les francophones du Canada célèbrent leur riche patrimoine culturel.
The French speakers of Canada celebrate their rich cultural heritage.
In this sentence, 'francophones' identifies students whose primary language or proficiency is in French.
Elle a rejoint un groupe d'étudiants francophones pour améliorer son français.
She joined a group of French-speaking students to improve her French.
In this context, 'francophones' specifies professionals whose communicative language, particularly for academic purposes, is French.