Word.ws English Dictionary

metis

More pronunciations (2)Fewer pronunciations

usually/meɪˈtiː/rare/meɪˈtiːs/

metis noun: a person of mixed-race ancestry. Also the alternative letter-case form of Metis.

Noun (1)

metis (plural metis)

  1. A person of mixed-race ancestry.
  2. (US) A person of one-eighth black ancestry; an octoroon.

Adjective

metis (not comparable)

  1. Of mixed heritage
  2. Of Métis heritage.

Noun (2)

IPA/ˈmiːtɪs/

metis (uncountable)

  1. (knowledge management) Practical intelligence; street smarts.

Proper noun (1) capitalized: Metis

Metis

  1. (Canada) One of three recognized Aboriginal peoples of Canada, descendants of marriages of Cree, Ojibwa, Saulteaux, and Menominee Aboriginal people with French Canadians, Scots and English.

Noun (3) capitalized: Metis

Metis (plural Metis)

  1. (Canada, US) A member of one of these three Canadian Aboriginal peoples.
    • Gabriel Du Pre is a Metis, a descendent^([sic]) of the Cree, Chippewa and Ojibwe tribes mixed with French.2003, Joan Beam, Barbara Branstad, The Native American in Long Fiction: An Annotated Bibliography : Supplement, 1995-2002, Lanham, Md.: Scarecrow Press
  2. (Canada) A person of mixed European and Aboriginal descent.
    • He is a Métis, that is, the son of a white father and Indian mother. He has dwelt long in cities where Europeans have conducted business, and speaks English and French very well; the other two chiefs are a Negro and an Indian: […]1912, Eugène Sue, Works of Eugène Sue: The wandering Jew, page 161
    • Malcolm Norris proposed that "if he has one drop of Indian blood in his veins and has not been assimilated into the social fabric of our civilization he is a Metis."1991, Thomas C. Pocklington, University of Regina. Canadian Plains Research Center, The Government and Politics of the Alberta Metis Settlements, University of Regina Press, page 14
    Synonyms:
    Bois Brule, Bois Brulé, coloured, country born, mixed-blood, half-breed

Proper noun (2) capitalized: Metis

IPA/ˈmiːtɪs/

Metis

  1. (Greek) A Titan who was the personification of wisdom, the first spouse of Zeus, and the mother of Athena
  2. A satellite of Jupiter.
  3. 9 Metis, a main belt asteroid.

Noun (4) capitalized: METIs

METIs

  1. (plural) plural of METI

Also used as

metis is also the alternative letter-case form of Metis.

Synonyms of metis

Forms of metis

Noun
pluralmetis
alternative Canadamétis
pluralMetis
Proper noun
alternative formMétis
alternative formmetis

Origin of metis

Borrowed from French métis, from Late Latin mixticius, from Latin mixtus (“mixed”). Akin to mestizo, which came from Spanish. More at Metis.

From Ancient Greek μῆτις (mêtis).

Borrowed from French métis, from Old French mestis, from Late Latin mixtīcius. Métis originally referred to Francophone and Cree-speaking descendants of the French-Catholic Red River Métis in Manitoba. Compare metis, mestizo, mustee, and Mestee.

Words formed from metis

Words that rhyme with metis

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about metis

What does metis mean?
Metis means a person of mixed-race ancestry.
What part of speech is metis?
Metis can be a noun, an adjective or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce metis?
Metis is pronounced /meɪˈtiː/ (usually).
What is the plural of metis?
The plural of metis is metis.

Words near metis in the dictionary

  1. meting out
  2. metings
  3. metipranolol
  4. metiram
  5. metirosine
  6. metis
  7. metisazone
  8. metisse
  9. metisses
  10. metitepine
  11. Metivier

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: metis (page history and authors); Metis (page history and authors); METIs (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “metis.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/metis. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.