English

Pretendian

Blend of pretend + (Ind)ian.

Proto-Indo-European *téndeti

Proto-Italic *tendō ‘to stretch’

Latin tendō

Latin praetendō ‘to put forward as an excuse, allege, pretend’

Anglo-Norman pretendre

Anglo-Norman indien

Middle English Indien

Today it means

noun A person who falsely claims to have Native American or Indigenous Canadian ancestry.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Pretendian