René Basset (24 July 1855 – 4 January 1924) was a French orientalist, specialist of the Berber language and the Arabic language.

René Basset was the first director of the "École des lettres d'Alger"[1] created in 1879[1] during the French colonisation of Algeria.

A member of the société Asiatique of Paris as well as those of Leipzig and Florence, he collaborated with the Journal Asiatique and studied Chinese Islam.

André Basset and Henri Basset were his sons.