Métis

¹

Also me·tis

[mey-tee, -tees, mey-tee]

noun

plural

Métis 

1. Canadian.,  a person of mixed First Nations and European ancestry: a member of the Métis Nation, recognized constitutionally as one of Canada’s rights-bearing Indigenous peoples.

2. métis, any person of mixed racial ancestry.

adjective

1. Canadian.,  belonging or relating to the Métis.

   Métis communities developed along the fur trade routes.

2. métis, being of mixed racial ancestry.

Metis

²

[mee-tis]

noun

Classical Mythology.

1. a Titaness, the daughter of Oceanus and Tethys and the mother of Athena by Zeus. Zeus swallowed Metis, and Athena was born from his head.

Métis

/ mɛˈtiːs, mɛˈtiːs /

noun

1. a person of mixed parentage

2. 1. the offspring or a descendant of a French Canadian and a North American Indian

   2. a member or descendant of a group of such people, who established themselves in Manitoba and Saskatchewan as a distinct political and cultural force during the nineteenth century

3. a person having one eighth Black ancestry; octoroon

Other Word Forms

• Métisse noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of Métis¹

First recorded in 1810–20; from French, Middle French, from Late Latin mixtīcius “of mixed blood”

Word History and Origins

Origin of Métis¹

C19: from French, from Vulgar Latin mixtīcius (unattested) of mixed race; compare _mestizo