Michif

Part of speech: noun, adjective

Definitions

1. A mixed language combining French nouns and Cree verbs, spoken by the Métis people of the Canadian prairies
2. The blended tongue of the Métis community, built from French grammar and Plains Cree vocabulary
3. An endangered hybrid language of the Métis in western Canada, fusing elements of French and Cree

Etymology: Michif is the name of a mixed language spoken by the Métis people of the Canadian Prairies and adjacent parts of the northern United States. Its name is a variant pronunciation of the French word "Métis," which means "mixed" and descends from Latin "mixtus," the source of English "mixed." The word thus names both the people and their language by the same notion of mixture, a fitting label for a language that blends its speakers' heritage. The French term "métis" was applied to people of mixed Indigenous and European, mainly French, ancestry, and the pronunciation "michif" arose as an English-speaking rendering of it. The spelling and sound reflect how speakers of the community rendered the French word in their own speech, rather than a separate word with its own history.