Born in Saint-Dié-des-Vosges into a modest family Ferdinand Brunot, was an illustrious scholar from Lorraine. In 1879, he entered the École Normale Supérieure and graduated as agrégé in grammar at the age of 22. Before being promoted to maître de conférences at the Sorbonne at the age of 31, he was a lecturer at the University of Lyon and defended his doctoral thesis. Passionate about the French language, Ferdinand Brunot is the initiator of a new approach to the study of language and its history, as a living manifestation of society, in all its aspects (political, economic, artistic, etc.). He shared and taught his knowledge through a French language history pulpit created especially for him at the Sorbonne, which he held for 34 years. He was also Dean of the Faculty of Letters in Paris for 9 years.

Teaching played a major role in Ferdinand Brunot’s life. An eminent pedagogue, he was a professor of the French language history at the Sorbonne, but he also created the French Linguistic School and worked to modernize the teaching of French by writing learning textbooks for use in elementary school. He also founded the School for Teachers of French Abroad, and was actively involved in the Alliance Française. When his professional duties came to an end, he continued to teach on a voluntary basis for several years.

A profound reformer who believed that the future of French lay in its modernisation, in particular a rationalisation of its spelling (which he failed to have reformed in 1905), and a radical revision of the "official" grammar. He based his method on the historical study of the language and meticulous observation of its contemporary uses, variants and patois.

His work as a scholar firmly rooted in his century was reflected in numerous voluminous works such as Précis de grammaire historique in 1899, L'Histoire de la langue française des origines à 1900 published between 1905 and 1939, La pensée et la langue : méthode, principe et plan d'une théorie nouvelle du langage appliquée au français dating from 1927. Aware that the oral heritage of the French language was destined to disappear inevitably, and seeing the emergence of technologies for recording speech, he founded the Archives de la parole (Speech Archives) to make speech an object of study.

In his first marriage, he married a daughter of Jules Liégeois, a lawyer who, along with Hippolyte Bernheim, was a member of the "École de Nancy" of psychology, known for its work on hypnosis.

Ferdinand Brunot was also a creative artist. Although he was not a member of the École de Nancy Brunot was close to some of its artists. He painted and, above all, worked with wood to carve it into a variety of furniture which he designed and executed in a resolutely Art nouveau style to furnish his home. He created a bench, a fireplace, a buffet, a sideboard etc. inspired by plants. The Musée de l'École de Nancy owns several of his furniture pieces thanks to a donation from one of Ferdinand Brunot’s sons.

Like Émile Gallé, Ferdinand Brunot was a Dreyfus supporter and one of the founders of the Human Rights League. He was also mayor of the 14th arrondissement of Paris during the First World War.