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 Ambrose has connected with his biological relatives, and has become a member of the Manitoba Métis Federation.

From BBC • Mar. 21, 2024

The province had a premier of Métis heritage in the 1870s; Métis people are Indigenous, but not First Nations members.

From New York Times • Oct. 3, 2023

That includes members of the East Prairie Métis Settlement in northern Alberta, where 14 homes were destroyed in an early May fire and almost 300 people were evacuated.

From Seattle 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