May

See also: Appendix:Variations of "may"

English

Alternative forms

• Ma (abbreviation)
• (female given name): Mae

Etymology 1

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

Pronunciation

• enPR: mā, IPA^(key): /meɪ/

• Audio (General American):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪ

Proper noun

May (countable and uncountable, plural Mays)

2. The fifth month of the Gregorian calendar, following April and preceding June.
   • 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.

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.

4. A surname from Middle English.
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

• May (or Mae) is often used in conjoined names (e.g., Lillie Mae, Katie Mae, Fannie Mae).

Derived terms

Terms derived from May

• Black May
• Bloody May
• have climbed May Hill
• Italian may
• King of May, King of the May
• Lady of the May
• Lord of May, Lord of the May
• May 7th
• May and December
• May and January
• May apple, mayapple
• May Ball
• May-bean
• May beetle
• May-bird, maybird
• May bishop
• May blob
• May bloom
• May blossom
• May bug
• May Bumps
• May-bush
• May butter
• May-chafter
• May-cherry
• May-chick
• May-chit
• May curlew
• May Day
• May-December
• May dew
• May-drink
• may duke, mayduke
• May examination
• Mayey, Mayie
• Mayfair
• May-fern
• May fish, mayfish
• May flower
• mayflower
• May fly, May-fly, mayfly
• May fowl
• May-gad
• May game
• May gowan
• May grapes
• May grass
• May gray
• May-haw, mayhaw
• May highflyer
• May Hill
• May-house
• Maying, maying
• May-jack
• May-king
• May lady
• May laws
• May lily
• May-lord
• May Marian
• May meetings
• May Morning
• May-morn, May-morning
• May parr
• May peal
• May pole, maypole
• May-pop
• May queen
• May Queen
• May races
• May Revolution
• May-roll
• May-rose
• May-sel
• May-September romance
• May-skate
• May skin
• Mays Landing (from surname)
• May-sucker
• may tag, maytag
• May-term
• May thorn
• May-Thurner syndrome
• Maytime
• may tree
• May Uprising
• may-weed
• May-week, May Week
• May whaap
• May whaup
• May wine
• May wool
• May-worm
• Maywort, maywort (Cruciata laevipes)
• Memphis in May
• mid-May
• ne'er cast a clout till May be out
• Queen of May, Queen of the May
• sell in May and go away
• Sun of May

 

Related terms

• Cinco de Mayo

Descendants

• 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

fifth month of the Gregorian calendar

• Abaza: май (maj)
• Abkhaz: лаҵара (lacʼara)
• Adyghe: жъоныгъуакӏ (žʷonəğʷakʼ)
• Afrikaans: Mei (af)
• Alabama: hasiholtina istatáɬɬàapi, Meyka
• Albanian: maj (sq) m
• Alutiiq: Nikllit Iraluat
• Amharic: መይ (mäy)
• Apache:

  Western Apache: Itsáh Hashkēē

• Arabic: مَايُو (ar) m (māyū), أَيَّار m (ʔayyār)

  Egyptian Arabic: مايو m (māyu)

  Hijazi Arabic: مايو m (māyu), ميي m (mēy)

• Aragonese: mayo (an) m
• Aramaic: אִיָּר m (iyar)

  Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: ܐܝܼܵܪ m (īyar)

  Classical Syriac: ܐܝܪ (ʾīyār)

  Turoyo: ܐܝـܝܰܪ m (iyar)

• Armenian: մայիս (hy) (mayis)

  Old Armenian: մայիս (mayis)

• Aromanian: maiu (roa-rup)
• Asturian: mayu (ast) m
• Azerbaijani: may (az)
• Basque: maiatz (eu)
• Bavarian: Moa
• Belarusian: тра́вень (be) m (trávjenʹ), май (be) m (maj)
• Bengali: মে (bn) (me)
• Bislama: mei
• Breton: Mae (br), miz Mae
• Bulgarian: май (bg) m (maj)
• Burmese: မေ (my) (me), ငါးလ (nga:la.)
• Catalan: maig (ca) m
• Central Dusun: Mikat
• Chechen: Стигалкъекъа-бутт (Stigalqʼeqʼa-butt)
• Cherokee: ᎠᏂᏍᎬᏘ (anisgvti)
• Chichewa: Meyi
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 五月 (ng⁵ jyut⁶)

  Dungan: вуйүә (vuyüə)

  Hakka: 五月 (ńg-ngie̍t)

  Hokkien: 五月 (gō͘-goe̍h, gō͘-ge̍h, gō͘-gōe)

  Mandarin: 五月 (zh) (wǔyuè)

• Chukchi: мимлыръылин (mimlyrʺylin), имԓыръыԓин (imḷyrʺyḷin)
• Chuvash: şu, Ҫу (Śu)
• Coptic: ⲙⲁⲓⲟⲥ (maios)
• Cornish: Me m
• Corsican: maghju (co)
• Czech: květen (cs) m
• Dakota: Wožupiwi
• Danish: maj (da) c
• Dhivehi: މެއި (dv) (mei)
• Dutch: mei (nl), bloeimaand (nl) m (archaic)
• Dzongkha: སྤྱི་ཟླ་ལྔ་པ། (spyi zla lnga pa)
• Erzya: панжиков (panžikov)
• Esperanto: majo (eo), Majo
• Estonian: mai (et), maikuu, lehekuu (et)
• Ewe: Damɛ, Mai
• Faroese: mai m
• Fijian: May
• Finnish: toukokuu (fi)
• French: mai (fr) m
• Friulian: Mai
• Galician: maio (gl) m
• Georgian: მაისი (ka) (maisi)
• German: Mai (de) m, Wonnemond (de) m
• Gilbertese: Mei
• Greek: Μάιος (el) m (Máios), Μάης (el) m (Máis)
• Greenlandic: maaji
• Guaraní: jasypo
• Haitian Creole: me
• Hausa: Mayu (ha)
• Hawaiian: Mei
• Hebrew: מַאי (he) (may)
• Hindi: मई (hi) f (maī)
• Hungarian: május (hu)
• Icelandic: maí (is) m, maímánuður m
• Ido: mayo (io)
• Indonesian: mei
• Interlingua: maio (ia)
• Inupiaq: Nuġġiaqtuġvik, Suppivik
• Irish: Bealtaine (ga) f
• Italian: maggio (it)
• Jamaican Creole: Mie
• Japanese: 五月 (ja) (ごがつ, gogatsu), 皐月 (ja) (さつき, satsuki)
• Javanese: mei
• Kabuverdianu: maiu
• Kalmyk: хөн сар (xön sar)
• Kambera: wulang lima
• Kannada: ಮೇ ತಿಂಗಳು (kn) (mē tiṅgaḷu)
• Kapampangan: Pángalimang búlan, Máyu
• Kashubian: môj (csb)
• Kazakh: мамыр (kk) (mamyr)
• Khmer: ឧសភា (km) (ʼosaʼphiə)
• Kikuyu: Mũgira Njara
• Kongo: mayi
• Korean: 오월(五月) (ko) (owol)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: gulan (ku)

• Kyrgyz: май (ky) (may)
• Ladin: mé
• Lao: ເດືອນພຶດສາພາ (dư̄an phưt sā phā), ພຶດສາພາ (phưt sā phā)
• Latin: maius (la)
• Latvian: maijs (lv) m
• Lezgi: тӏул (ṭul)
• Limburgish: Mei
• Lingala: máyí (ln)
• Lithuanian: gegužė (lt) f, gegužis m
• Livonian: maij, lēḑkū
• Lombard: maasc
• Louisiana Creole: mê
• Low German: Mai m, Maimaand m
• Luxembourgish: Mee (lb) m, Päischtmount (lb) m
• Macedonian: мај (mk) m (maj)
• Malay: Mei (ms)
• Malayalam: മേയ് (ml) (mēyŭ)
• Maltese: Mejju (mt) m
• Manchu: ᠰᡠᠨᠵᠠ
  ᠪᡳ᠍ᠶᠠ (sunja biya)
• Maori: Haratua, Mei
• Mingrelian: მესი (mesi)
• Mirandese: Maio m
• Mòcheno: moi m
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: тавдугаар сар (tavdugaar sar)

• Montagnais: nissi-pishimᵘ
• Navajo: Tʼą́ą́tsoh
• Neapolitan: maio, majo
• North Frisian:

  Föhr-Amrum: mei m

  Mooring: krölemoune m, moi m

• Northern Sami: miessemánnu
• Northern Sotho: Mopitlo
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: mai (no) m

  Nynorsk: mai (nn) m

• Occitan: mai (oc) m
• Odia: ମ‌ଇ (ma‌i)
• Ojibwe: zaagibagaa-giizis
• Old Church Slavonic:

  Cyrillic: трѣвьнъ m (trěvĭnŭ)

• Old Dutch: winnamānoth
• Old English: þrimilce
• Oromo: Ebla
• Ossetian: май (maj)
• Pannonian Rusyn: май m (maj)
• Pennsylvania German: Moi
• Persian:

  Dari: می (mē)

  Iranian Persian: مِه (fa) (me)

• Plautdietsch: Mei m
• Polish: maj (pl) m
• Portuguese: maio (pt) m
• Punjabi: ਮਈ m (maī)
• Romanian: mai (ro), (popular) florar (ro)
• Romansch: mai m, maitg m, matg m, meg m
• Russian: май (ru) m (maj)
• Samoan: me (sm)
• Sardinian: magiu, maju, mazu
• Saterland Frisian: Moai
• Scots: Mey
• Scottish Gaelic: Cèitean m, (abbreviation) Cèit (gd)
• Sekani: ʼUtʼǫ̀ʼ kùnuyehde
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: мај m

  Roman: maj (sh) m, svibanj (sh) m (Croatia)

• Shona: Chivabvu
• Sicilian: maiu (scn) m
• Sinhalese: මැයි (si) (mæyi)
• Skolt Sami: vueʹssmään
• Slovak: máj (sk) m
• Slovene: máj (sl) m
• Sotho: Motsheanong (st)
• Spanish: mayo (es) m
• Swahili: Mei (sw)
• Swazi: íNkhwekhwéti
• Swedish: maj (sv) c
• Tagalog: Mayo (tl)
• Tahitian: mē
• Tajik: май (tg) (may)
• Tatar: май (tt) (may)
• Telugu: మే (te) (mē)
• Thai: พฤษภาคม (th) (prʉ́t-sà-paa-kom)
• Tibetan: ཟླ་ལྔ་བ། (zla lnga ba)
• Tok Pisin: me (tpi)
• Tongan: Mē
• Turkish: mayıs (tr)
• Turkmen: maý (tk)
• Udmurt: куартолэзь (kuartoleź)
• Ukrainian: тра́вень (uk) m (trávenʹ)
• Urdu: مَئی f (maī)
• Uyghur: ماي (may), بەشىنچى ئاي (beshinchi ay)
• Uzbek: may (uz)
• Venetan: majo (vec)
• Vietnamese: tháng năm (vi)
• Volapük: mayul (vo)
• Võro: lehekuu
• Walloon: may (wa)
• Welsh: Mai (cy) m
• West Frisian: maaie (fy), blommemoanne (fy)
• Winnebago: Mąą hitawus hii wiira
• Wolof: Mee
• Yakut: Ыам ыйа (Iam ıya)
• Yiddish: מײַ (yi) n (may)
• Yup'ik: Qusiirvik
• Zazaki: Gulane
• Zuni: Sow-a:ne, Yachun Kwa'shi'amme

hawthorn or its blossoms

• Greek: λευκάκανθα f (lefkákantha)

given name

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 梅 (zh) (méi)

• Finnish: Touko (fi)
• Hebrew: מַאי (he) (may), מַאיָה (máya)
• Hungarian: Maja (hu)
• Latvian: Maija
• Macedonian: Маја f (Maja)
• Russian: Ма́йя (ru) f (Májja)
• Slovene: Máj (sl) m, Mája (sl) f
• Swedish: Maj (sv) f, May (sv) f

See also

• (Gregorian calendar months) Gregorian calendar month; January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December ^{(Category: en:Gregorian calendar months)}

Etymology 2

The surname is converged from several origins:

• As an English surname, from Middle English May, a pet form of Matthew (see Mayhew).
• As an English, Dutch, German, Polish, and Jewish surname, from the name of the month.
• Also as an English surname, occasionally a pet form of Mary or Margaret.
• Also as an English surname, from the obsolete noun may (“kinsman”), from Old English maga (“son, relative”).
• Also as an English surname, from obsolete Middle English mei (“physician”), a borrowing from Old English mege, from Latin medicus. See Mee.
• As an Irish surname, Anglicized from Ó Miadhaigh (“descendant of Miadhach”), a name derived from miadh (“honor”).
• As a French surname, shortened from Lemay, Dumay.
• Also as a French surname, from a derivative of Latin Marius, similar to Mario.
• As a Jewish surname, from the town Mayen in Germany.
• As a Chinese surname, from 麥 / 麦 (see Mai) and 梅 (méi)) (see Mei).
• As an Amerindian (Mexico) surname of Mayan origin, from maay (“cloven hoof”), originally "young deer."

Proper noun

May (plural Mays)

2. A surname.

Anagrams

• Amy, MYA, Mya, Yam, mya, yam

Cebuano

Etymology

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

May

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

Quotations

For quotations using this term, see Citations:May.

Fijian

Proper noun

May

1. May

See also

• (Gregorian calendar months) Janueri, Veverueri, Maji, Epereli, May, June, Jiulai, Okosita, Seviteba, Okotova, Noveba, Tiseba ^{(Category: fj:Months)}

Middle French

Noun

May m (plural Mays)

1. May (month)

Descendants

• 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

Etymology

From English May.

Proper noun

May

1. a female given name

Swedish

Etymology

From English May.

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Proper noun

May c (genitive Mays)

1. a female given name

Tagalog

Etymology

Borrowed from English May.

Pronunciation

• (Standard Tagalog) IPA^(key): /ˈmej/ [ˈmeɪ̯]
• Rhymes: -ej
• Syllabification: May

Proper noun

May (Baybayin spelling ᜋᜒᜌ᜔)

1. a female given name from English

Vietnamese

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [maj˧˧]
• (Huế) IPA^(key): [maj˧˧]
• (Saigon) IPA^(key): [ma(ː)j˧˧]
• Homophone: may

Proper noun

May

1. a female given name