mayor

See also: Mayor

English

Alternative forms

• mayour (obsolete)

Etymology

• Circa 1300 from Old French maire (“head of a city or town government”) (13th century), from Latin maior (“bigger, greater, superior”), comparative of magnus (“big, great”). Doublet of major.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈmeɪ.ɚ/, /ˈmɛɚ/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈmɛə̯/, /ˈmeɪ.ə/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛə(ɹ), -eɪə(ɹ)
• Homophone: mare (one pronunciation)

Noun

mayor (plural mayors, feminine mayoress)

1. The leader of a city, or a municipality, sometimes just a figurehead and sometimes a powerful position. In some countries, the mayor is elected by the citizens or by the city council.
   • 2003, Mary Ruwart, Healing our world in an age of aggression - Page 374

     The Libertarian mayor of Big Water, Utah, recently slashed property taxes in half and even repealed his own salary!

   • 2011, Michael Ryan, The Heart's Location, p 32

     To assist him in his task Paul was joined by Ron Adams, who had been a three-term Libertarian mayor in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

2. (historical) The steward of some royal courts, particularly in early Medieval France

Synonyms

• (female, when distinguished): mayoress
• (head of a town): burgomaster, boroughmaster (historical, of boroughs); provost (of Scottish burghs & historical French bourgs); Lord Provost (of certain Scottish burghs); praetor (archaic)
• (royal officer): seneschal, steward

Hyponyms

(municipal principal leader):

• mayor, lord mayor, Lord Mayor (male mayor)
• mayoress, lady mayor, Lady Mayor (female mayor)

Derived terms

• mayor of the palace
• mayoress (female mayor)
• lord mayor
• lady mayor

Descendants

• → Cebuano: mayor
• → Swahili: meya
• → Tok Pisin: meya

Translations

leader of a city

• Albanian: kryebashkiak m
• Arabic: عُمْدَة‎ m (ʿumda)
• Armenian: քաղաքապետ (hy) (kʿałakʿapet)
• Basque: alkate, auzapez
• Bavarian: Buagamasta
• Belarusian: мэр m (mer)
• Breton: maer (br) m
• Bulgarian: кмет (bg) m (kmet)
• Burmese: မြို့တော်ဝန် (my) (mrui.tauwan)
• Catalan: alcalde (ca) m, alcaldessa (ca) f, batlle (ca) m, batllessa (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 市長 (si⁵ zoeng²)

  Mandarin: 市長 (zh), 市长 (zh) (shìzhǎng)

• Czech: starosta (cs) m
• Danish: borgmester c, borgmesterinde c
• Dutch: burgemeester (nl) m
• Erzya: ошазор (ošazor)
• Esperanto: urbestro
• Estonian: linnapea (et)
• Faroese: borgarstjóri m
• Finnish: pormestari (fi), kaupunginjohtaja (fi), määri (fi)
• French: maire (fr) m, mairesse (fr) f, bourgmestre (fr) m or f (Belgium)
• Galician: alcalde m, alcaldesa f
• Georgian: მერი (ka) (meri)
• German: Bürgermeister (de) m, Bürgermeisterin (de) f
• Greek: δήμαρχος (el) m or f (dímarchos), δημαρχίνα (el) f (dimarchína) (colloquial)
• Greenlandic: borgmesteri
• Hebrew: ראש עירייה‎ m (rosh iriyá), ראש עיר‎ (he) m (rosh ir)
• Hindi: महापौर m (mahāpaur)
• Hungarian: polgármester (hu), főpolgármester (hu) (that of a major city)
• Icelandic: (of a city) borgarstjóri m, (of a town) bæjarstjóri m
• Ido: urbestro (io)
• Indonesian: wali kota (id)
• Interlingua: burgomaestro
• Irish: méara (ga) m
• Italian: sindaco (it) m, sindaca (it) f, primo cittadino (it) m, prima cittadina f
• Japanese: 市長 (ja) (しちょう, shichō)
• Javanese: walikutha
• Kazakh: қалабасы (qalabası)
• Khmer: ចៅហ្វាយក្រុង (chao vay krong)
• Korean: 시장 (ko) (sijang) (市長 (ko))
• Kyrgyz: мэр (mer), шаарбашы (şaarbaşı)
• Latvian: mērs m

• Lithuanian: meras m
• Macedonian: градоначалник m (gradonačalnik)
• Malay: datuk bandar (ms)
• Manx: meoir m
• Maori: mea
• Mongolian: хотын дарга (hotyn darga)
• Norman: maire m
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: borgermester m, borgermesterinne f, ordfører m, ordførerinne f

  Nynorsk: borgarmeister m, ordførar m, ordførarinne f

• Persian: شهردار‎ (fa) (šahrdâr)
• Polish: burmistrz (pl) m (in small town), prezydent miasta m (in big city)
• Portuguese: prefeito (pt) m, prefeita f, presidente da câmara municipal (Portugal)
• Quechua: kamachiq
• Romanian: primar (ro) m, primăreasă (ro) f, primăriță (ro) f
• Russian: мэр (ru) m (mɛr), градонача́льник (ru) m (gradonačálʹnik) (dated), бургоми́стр (ru) m (burgomístr) (of some foreign countries)
• Scottish Gaelic: mèar m (mayor, generally), probhaist m (provost, as in Scotland)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: градоначелник m, градоначелница f

  Roman: gradonačelnik (sh) m, gradonačelnica (sh) f

• Slovak: starosta m
• Slovene: župan (sl) m, županja f
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: šołta m, šołtowka f

• Spanish: alcalde (es) m, alcaldesa (es) f, intendente (es) m or f (Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay), presidente municipal m or f (Mexico), regente (es) m or f (Mexico City), síndico (es) m (Dominican Republic), síndica f (Dominican Republic)
• Swahili: meya (sw)
• Swedish: borgmästare (sv) c, borgmästarinna (sv) c
• Tajik: мир (tg) (mir)
• Thai: นายกเทศมนตรี (naayók tâytsàmondtree), นายก (th) (naa-yók)
• Turkish: belediye başkanı (tr)
• Ukrainian: мер m or f (mer)
• Urdu: مہاپور‎ m (mahāpaur)
• Uzbek: mer (uz)
• Venetian: prefeto m, sìndico (vec) m
• Vietnamese: thị trưởng (vi) (市長)
• Volapük: (♂♀) sifal (vo), (♂) hisifal, (♀) jisifal
• Welsh: maer (cy) m

royal steward

• Dutch: hofmeier m
• French: maire (fr)

• Welsh: maer (cy)

Anagrams

• Amory, Moray, Raymo, moray

---

Asturian

Etymology

From Latin māior.

Adjective

mayor (epicene, plural mayores)

1. old
2. older
3. (music) major

---

Cebuano

Etymology

From English mayor, from Old French maire (“head of a city or town government”), from Latin maior (“bigger, greater, superior”), comparative of magnus (“big, great”).

Pronunciation

• Hyphenation: ma‧yor

Noun

mayor

1. a mayor; the leader of a city, or a municipality

Quotations

For quotations using this term, see Citations:mayor.

---

Crimean Tatar

Etymology

From Latin maior (“major”).

Noun

mayor

1. major (military rank).

Declension

Declension of mayor

nominative	mayor
genitive	mayornıñ
dative	mayorğa
accusative	mayornı
locative	mayorda
ablative	mayordan

References

• Mirjejev, V. A.; Usejinov, S. M. (2002) Ukrajinsʹko-krymsʹkotatarsʹkyj slovnyk [Ukrainian – Crimean Tatar Dictionary]‎^[1], Simferopol: Dolya, →ISBN

---

Indonesian

Noun

mayor

1. major (military rank in Indonesian Army)
2. lieutenant commander (military rank in Indonesian Navy)
3. squadron leader (military rank in Indonesian Air Force)

---

Papiamentu

Etymology

From Spanish mayor and Portuguese maior.

Adjective

mayor

1. great, major

---

Portuguese

Adjective

mayor m or f (plural mayores, comparable)

1. Obsolete spelling of maior

---

Spanish

Etymology

From Latin māior.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /maˈɟ͡ʝoɾ/, [maˈʝoɾ]
• (Rioplatense) IPA^(key): /maˈʒor/

• Audio (Bolivia)

  (file)

Adjective

mayor (plural mayores)

1. comparative degree of grande: bigger

   Antonym: menor

2. comparative degree of viejo: older; elder

   mi novio es mayor que yo

   my boyfriend is older than me

   tengo una hermana mayor

   I've got an elder sister

   Antonym: menor

3. (of a person) comparative degree of viejo: old; at an advanced age

   Synonyms: viejo, anciano

4. of age; adult; grown-up

   Cuando (yo) sea mayor voy a ser médico

   When I'm grown-up, I want to be a doctor.

   Synonym: mayor de edad

5. major; main

   una preocupación mayor

   a major concern

   la plaza mayor

   the main square

   Antonym: menor

6. head; boss
7. (music) major

   Antonym: menor

8. (as a superlative, el/la/lo mayor) superlative degree of grande: the biggest.
9. (as a superlative) superlative degree of viejo: the oldest
10. enhanced

Derived terms

• aguas mayores
• al por mayor
• batará mayor
• Carro Mayor
• cigomático mayor
• estay mayor
• fuerza mayor
• justicia mayor
• libro mayor
• mayora
• mayor de edad
• Osa Mayor
• palabras mayores
• palo mayor
• pasar a mayores
• por mayor
• venta al por mayor

 

Noun

mayor m (plural mayores)

1. (military) major (military rank)
2. boss; head
3. (literary, in the plural) ancestors

mayor f (plural mayores)

1. (nautical) mainsail

Further reading

• “mayor” in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014.