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Métisse
DCHP-3.1 (Oct 2025)
Spelling variants:Metisse
n. — Ethnicities; rare
a female Métis.
Type: 2. Preservation — The term Métisse is a specialized female form for Métis. Métisse is excessively rare today but can still be found in Canadian French (see the 2025 quotation). In Canadian English, it is attested until the 1970s (see the 1976 quotation).
The term is most common in the UK and Canada (see Chart 1); in the UK, the term is often used to describe women of mixed European and African heritage, whereas in Canada Métisse is most often used for women of European/French and Indigenous heritage. The term is considerably more common in Canada compared to other countries, such as the US (see Chart 1), though, as pointed out above, the attestations are from pre-1980s contexts.
The OED-3 attests the term as of 1895, defining it as "[a] woman of mixed descent, esp. one of European and African or North American Indigenous origin". The term is listed in Canadian dictionaries Gage-3 (labelled as n. Cdn. Rare.), Gage-5, FWSCD-82 and FWCCD-86 (s.v. Métis, labelled as n. fem.). The term is not listed in Canadian dictionaries COD-1 or COD-2, nor is it listed in American dictionary DARE.
The term is most common in the UK and Canada (see Chart 1); in the UK, the term is often used to describe women of mixed European and African heritage, whereas in Canada Métisse is most often used for women of European/French and Indigenous heritage. The term is considerably more common in Canada compared to other countries, such as the US (see Chart 1), though, as pointed out above, the attestations are from pre-1980s contexts.
The OED-3 attests the term as of 1895, defining it as "[a] woman of mixed descent, esp. one of European and African or North American Indigenous origin". The term is listed in Canadian dictionaries Gage-3 (labelled as n. Cdn. Rare.), Gage-5, FWSCD-82 and FWCCD-86 (s.v. Métis, labelled as n. fem.). The term is not listed in Canadian dictionaries COD-1 or COD-2, nor is it listed in American dictionary DARE.
See: Métis
The term does not appear to be common in Canadian press between the 1980's and 2025 however, it can still be found in Canadian-French articles.
Quotations
1935
"You don't load her into no plane weelly-neelly, lak if she was some . . . métise."
1952
Riel's mother was a Metisse, half French, half Montagnais.
1952
She may have been a very pretty girl, as so many of the Metisse were.
1963
Thomas Scott [was] a Scottish farmer married to a French métisse. . . .
2025
[L’UNMSJM organise la 2e édition du festival du film autochtone, qui aura lieu du dimanche 28 au mardi 30 septembre dans l’auditorium Martial-Caron de l’Université de Saint-Boniface. Ce festival tend à s’imposer comme un rendez-vous annuel, mêlant à la fois le monde du cinéma et la culture métisse. Gratuit et ouvert à tous, l’événement tend à devenir un moment phare du calendrier culturel manitobain.]
References
- OED-3 • métisse
- DARE
- COD-1
- COD-2
- Gage-3
- Gage-5
- FWSCD-82
- FWCCD-86
Images
