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May

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also: Appendix:Variations of "may"

English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology 1

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From Middle English May, Mai, from Old French mai, from Latin Maius (“Maia's month”), from Maia, a Roman earth goddess.

Pronunciation

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Proper noun

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May (countable and uncountable, plural Mays)

English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia
 May (disambiguation) on Wikipedia
  2. The fifth month of the Gregorian calendar, following April and preceding June.
    Alternative form: 5
    Synonym: (Quakerism) Fifth Month
    Holonyms: calendar year; year
    Comeronyms: January, February, March, April, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
    • Before 1789, "Bonny Barbara Allen," traditional ballad, collected in Francis James Child and George Lyman Kittridge (1886), The English and Scottish Popular Ballads, vol. II, part II, p. 277:
      All in the merry month of May, / When green leaves they was springing, / This young man on his death-bed lay, / For the love of Barbara Allen.
    • 2014 July 1, Frank Jacobs, “Welcome to Stanistan”, in Foreign Policy‎[1], archived from the original on 3 August 2023:
      At a signing ceremony in the Kazakh capital, Astana, on May 29, the presidents of Russia, Belarus, and Kazakhstan ratified the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) into existence. An EEU modeled on the European Union was first mooted back in 1994 by Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, but took off only after his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, seized upon its potential as a Moscow-centered, Asia-oriented alternative to the EU.
    • 2025 August 6, Rachel Dobkin, “Significant parts of the Constitution were quietly removed from the Congress website”, in The Independent‎[2]:
      In May, White House deputy chief of staff for policy Stephen Miller told reporters the Trump administration is “looking at” suspending the writ of habeas corpus for migrants under claims of an “invasion.”
  3. A female given name, usually pet name for Mary and Margaret, reinforced by the month and plant meaning.
    • 1856, E. D. E. N. Southworth, The Widow's Son, T. B. Peterson, published 1867, page 210:
      […] I will not send Owen's Lily May to the almshouse." "Lily―what?" demanded Mrs. Morley rather sharply, for she was half provoked with what she mentally called Amy's whim of keeping the outcast child when she might send it to the asylum. "Lily May," said Amy, smiling. "Her name is Mary, and we called her first Little Mary, and then Little May. But Owen calls her Lily May."
    • 1982, Ruth Rendell, The Fever Tree and Other Stories, Hutchinson, →ISBN, page 119:
      Their parents named them June and May because their birthdays occurred in those months. […] May was like the time of year in which she had been born, changeable, chilly and warm by turns, sullen yet able to know and show loveliness that couldn't last.
    • 2010, Margaret Forster, Isa & May, Chatto & Windus, →ISBN, page 5:
      It's an awkward name: Isamay, pronounced Is-a-may. Isa is my paternal grandmother's name (shortened from Isabel) and May my maternal grandmother's (it comes, somehow, from Margaret). The amalgamation is, as you see, strictly alphabetical. Life, I feel, would have been much easier if they had chosen Maybel.
    • 2016 June 13, Hilary Bird, “Baby named Sahaiʔa prompts changes to Vital Statistics Act”, in CBC News‎[3], archived from the original on 13 June 2016:
      Sahaiʔa May Talbot was born on Feb. 15, 2014. However, on her birth certificate, her name is spelled Sahai'a because the Northwest Territories government only allows the Roman alphabet to be used on official documents.
  4. A surname from Middle English.
    1. Theresa May, former British prime minister.
  5. A number of places in the United States:
    1. A former settlement in Amador County, California.
    2. An unincorporated community in Lemhi County, Idaho.
    3. An unincorporated community in McDonald County, Missouri.
    4. A small town in Harper County, Oklahoma.
    5. An unincorporated community in Brown County, Texas.
    6. An unincorporated community in Pocahontas County, West Virginia.
    7. A number of townships in the United States, listed under May Township.
Usage notes
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  • May (or Mae) is often used in conjoined names (e.g., Lillie Mae, Katie Mae, Fannie Mae).
Derived terms
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Terms derived from May
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Descendants
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  • Bislama: mei
  • Pitcairn-Norfolk: Mieh
  • Tok Pisin: Mei
  • → Bengali: মে (me)
  • → Burmese: မေ (me)
  • → Chichewa: Meyi
  • → Dari: می (mey)
  • → Hausa: Mayu
  • → Hawaiian: Mei
  • → Hindi: मई (maī)
  • → Marshallese: Māe
  • → Māori: Mei
  • → Swahili: Mei
  • → Tokelauan: Me
  • → Tongan: Mē, Me
Translations
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See also

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Gregorian calendar monthsedit

Etymology 2

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The surname is converged from several origins:

Proper noun

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May (plural Mays)

  2. A surname.

Anagrams

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Cebuano

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Etymology

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From English May, from Middle English, from Old English, from Old French mai, from Latin maius (“Maia's month”), from Maia, a Roman earth goddess, possibly from Proto-Indo-European *magya (“she who is great”), from Proto-Indo-European base *meg- (“great”).

Proper noun

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May

  1. a female given name from English
  2. a surname from English

Fijian

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Proper noun

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May

  1. May

See also

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Gregorian calendar monthsedit

Middle French

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Noun

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May m (plural Mays)

  1. May (month)

Descendants

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  • French: mai
    • Guianese Creole: mè
    • Haitian Creole: me
    • → English: may
    • → Iranian Persian: مه (me)
    • Louisiana Creole: mê
    • → South Azerbaijani: مه (mə)
    • → Tunisian Arabic: ماي (mēy)

Norwegian

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Etymology

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From English May.

Proper noun

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May

  1. a female given name

Swedish

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Etymology

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From English May.

Pronunciation

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Proper noun

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May c (genitive Mays)

  1. a female given name

Tagalog

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Etymology 1

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Borrowed from English May.

Pronunciation

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Proper noun

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May (Baybayin spelling ᜋᜒᜌ᜔)

  1. a female given name from English

Etymology 2

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Abbreviation of Mayo.

Alternative forms

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Proper noun

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May (Baybayin spelling ᜋᜌ᜔)

  1. abbreviation of Mayo: May
    Coordinate terms: Ene, Peb, Mar, Abr, Hun, Hul, Ago, Set, Okt, Nob, Dis

Vietnamese

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Etymology

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From may (“lucky”). Compare Hạnh with the same meanings.

Pronunciation

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Proper noun

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May

  1. a female given name
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