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French halfbreed
DCHP-3.1 (Dec 2025)
Spelling variants:French Halfbreed, French half-breed
This term is considered offensive and is included because it documents historical use of this term. This is not an endorsement of its use.
n. — obsolete, offensive, derogatory
a person of mixed Indigenous and European, especially French, parentage.
Type: 6. Memorial — This term is a Canadianism by virtue of its historical significance in Canada. As shown in Chart 1, the term is most common in Canada with only slight usage in the US. Nonetheless, the term is no longer in use, with the last non-historical attestations from the 1960s.
The term is not listed in OED-3 or American dictionary DARE. It is not listed in Canadian dictionaries COD-1, COD-2, Gage-3, Gage-5, FWSCD-82, or FWCCD-86.
The term is not listed in OED-3 or American dictionary DARE. It is not listed in Canadian dictionaries COD-1, COD-2, Gage-3, Gage-5, FWSCD-82, or FWCCD-86.
Quotations
1860
It does not contain a single word in the way of a comparison between the English and the French Halfbreeds.
1869
Through the influence of Donald Smithe, Rev. Mr. Young, Archdeacon McLean and the pleadings of Mr. and Mrs. Sutherland, whose son had been shot and killed on the Red River ice by a French halfbreed on February 16, the life of Major Boulton was spared.
1885
"The prisoner said that he would take $35,000 at once. He offered to leave the country at once if he received this last amount, and intimated that if he were satisfied the halfbreed question would be satisfied also." Charles Nolin, a French halfbreed, and others, gave evidence to a similar effect.
1913
Big gains in the French polls close to the north and west of Winnipeg, in which the French halfbreed element predominates, were offset by Liberal gains in the French polls in the south, notably in those where there is a large proportion of old country French.
1936
Many of the French halfbreeds, with the inrush of Ontario settlers, migrated to the banks of the Saskatchewan, and in and around Prince Albert.
1963
Urging them on were French half-breeds among them, and French traders behind them in the Illinois country[…].
References
- OED-3
- COD-1
- COD-2
- Gage-3
- Gage-5
- FWSCD-82
- FWCCD-86
- DARE
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