Métis

¹ American  

[mey-tee, -tees, mey-tee] / meɪˈti, -ˈtis, ˈmeɪ ti /

Also metis

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.

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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 American  

[mee-tis] / ˈmi tɪs /

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.

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Métis British  

/ 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

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Other Word Forms

• Métisse noun

Etymology

Origin of Métis

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

Example Sentences

Massoud also pauses at a monument to Louis Riel, a 19th-century Canadian revolutionary of Franco-Chipewyan Métis descent, who was executed in 1885 for leading an Indigenous rebellion for civil rights.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 13, 2025

Mr Beauvais, 68, was raised Métis - an indigenous people in Canada of mixed indigenous and European ancestry.

From BBC • Mar. 21, 2024

In Canada, 5% of the population identifies as Indigenous - First Nation, Métis or Inuit - with an even smaller percentage living in predominantly Indigenous communities.

From Washington Times • Jul. 20, 2023

In Canada, 5% of the population identifies as Indigenous — First Nation, Métis or Inuit — with an even smaller percentage living in predominantly Indigenous communities.

From Seattle Times • Jul. 19, 2023

All day, it had been a replay of that old First Nations, Métis, and Inuit Student Association debate.

From "Legendary Frybread Drive-In" by Cynthia Leitich Smith