Bretenoux (French pronunciation: [bʁətnu]; Occitan: Bertenor) is a commune in the Lot department in southwestern France.

The old town, a bastide, is laid out on a grid and has houses dating from the 13th to the 16th century.

The name Bretenoux derives from Brittanorum villa, which means "the domain, the property, of the Breton villa" and may reflect the settlement in the area in the 5th and 6th centuries of Romano-British people fleeing the Anglo-Saxon invasion of England.

[3] The settlement is first mentioned in the monastery of Beaulieu's cartulary in 866, as Villa Bretenoro.

[4] Bretenoux has retained parts of its ramparts and its checker-board grid plan, public squares, and covered arcades.