blood quantum

noun

The fraction of a person's ancestors, out of their total ancestors, who are documented as full-blooded Native Americans.

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Meanings

nounblood quantum (plural blood quantums or blood quanta)

plural blood quantums · plural blood quanta

  1. USoffensiveproscribedsometimesThe fraction of a person's ancestors, out of their total ancestors, who are documented as full-blooded Native Americans.

    Native blood quantum was introduced in 1705 at the Virginia Colony. If you were at least half Native, you didn’t have the same rights as white people. Blood quantum and tribal membership qualifications have since been turned over to individual tribes to decide.

    2018, Tommy Orange, There There, Harvill Secker, page 137

Synonyms & antonyms

Also see
quantum of indian blood
Cite this entry
APA

blood quantum. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/blood%20quantum

MLA

“blood quantum.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/blood%20quantum. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “blood quantum,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/blood%20quantum.

Source: blood quantum on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.