May

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See also: may, mAy, máy, maý, mày, mấy, mây, mãy, and May.

English[edit]

Alternative forms[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

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

Pronunciation[edit]

  • enPR: mā, IPA(key): /meɪ/
  • Audio (GA)(file)
  • Rhymes: -eɪ

Proper noun[edit]

May (countable and uncountable, plural Mays)

English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia
 May (disambiguation) on Wikipedia
  1. The fifth month of the Gregorian calendar, following April and preceding June.
  2. 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.
  3. A surname from Middle English.
  4. 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[edit]
  • May (or Mae) is often used in conjoined names (e.g., Lillie Mae, Katie Mae, Fannie Mae).
Derived terms[edit]
Terms derived from May
Related terms[edit]
Descendants[edit]
  • 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
  • → Maori: Mei
  • → Swahili: Mei
  • → Tokelauan: Me
  • → Tongan: Mē, Me
Translations[edit]

See also[edit]

Etymology 2[edit]

The surname is converged from several origins:

Proper noun[edit]

May (plural Mays)

  2. A surname.

Anagrams[edit]

Cebuano[edit]

Etymology[edit]

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[edit]

May

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

Quotations[edit]

For quotations using this term, see Citations:May.

Fijian[edit]

Proper noun[edit]

May

  1. May

See also[edit]

Middle French[edit]

Noun[edit]

May m (plural Mays)

  1. May (month)

Descendants[edit]

  • 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[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From English May.

Proper noun[edit]

May

  1. a female given name

Swedish[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From English May.

Pronunciation[edit]

Proper noun[edit]

May c (genitive Mays)

  1. a female given name

Tagalog[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Borrowed from English May.

Pronunciation[edit]

  • Hyphenation: May
  • IPA(key): /ˈmej/, [ˈmɛɪ̯]

Proper noun[edit]

May (Baybayin spelling ᜋᜒᜌ᜔)

  1. a female given name from English

Vietnamese[edit]

Etymology[edit]

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

Pronunciation[edit]

Proper noun[edit]

May

  1. a female given name
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