Meanings
pretendianism1
nounpretendianism (uncountable)
- uncountableAlternative letter-case form of Pretendianism
Pretendianism2
nounPretendianism (uncountable)
alternative pretendianism
- derogatoryinformaluncountableThe phenomenon of individuals falsely claiming to have Native American or Indigenous Canadian ancestry.
Perhaps some context is required. We were originally there to discuss the popular practice of Pretendianism, wherein members of the dominant culture, for various reasons, decide to switch teams and play for the underdogs, without having been invited.
2024 March 8, Drew Hayden Taylor, “To understand Pretendianism, we must first understand Indianism”, in The Globe and Mail, Toronto, ON: The Woodbridge Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 08 Mar 2024
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*per-
- Proto-Indo-European*preh₂-
- Proto-Indo-European*préh₂i?
- Proto-Italic*prai
- Proto-Italic*prai-
- Latinprae-
- Proto-Indo-European*ten-
- Proto-Indo-European*tend-
- Proto-Indo-European*téndeti
- Proto-Italic*tendō
- Latintendō
- Latinpraetendō
- Anglo-Normanpretendre
- Englishpretend
- Old FrenchInde
- Anglo-Normanindien
- Middle EnglishIndien
- English(Ind)ian
- EnglishPretendian
- EnglishPretendianism
From Pretendian + -ism.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
APA
pretendianism. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pretendianism
MLA
“pretendianism.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pretendianism. Accessed November 4, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “pretendianism,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pretendianism.
Source: pretendianism on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.