SAVATE also known as boxe française, French boxing or French Kickboxing, is a French combat sport that uses the hands and feet as weapons combining elements of English boxing with graceful kicking techniques.

Savate is a French word for "old shoe or boot".

Savate takes its name from the French for "old shoe" (heavy footwear, especially the boots used by French military and sailors. The modern formalized form is mainly an amalgam of French street fighting techniques from the beginning of the 19th century. Savate was then a type of street fighting common in Paris and northern France.

The two key historical figures in the history of the shift from street fighting to the modern sport of savate are Michel Casseux (also known as le Pisseux) (1794–1869) and Charles Lecour  (1808–1894). Casseux opened the first establishment in 1825 for practicing and promoting a regulated version of chausson and savate (disallowing head butting, eye gouging, grappling, etc.). After some point la canne and le baton, stick fighting, were added, and some form of stick fencing, such as la canne, is commonly part of savate training.

Perhaps the ultimate recognition of the respectability of Savate came in 1924 when it was included as a demonstration sport in the Olympic Games in Paris. In 2008, Savate was recognised by the International University Sports Federation (FISU) – this recognition allows savate to hold official University World Championships; the first was held in Nantes, France in 2010.