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

Norquay, who was Métis, became the province’s fifth premier in 1878.

From Seattle Times • Oct. 4, 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 Washington Times • Jul. 20, 2023

Everyone in the house was Métis, but Berlin’s roommates insisted on saying Navajo tacos because their stepdad was Diné, while Simon, the undisputed star of language camp, argued NDN was fairest.

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