Wiktionary

May

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:
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 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

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

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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