May
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See also: Appendix:Variations of "may"
English
[edit]Alternative forms
[edit]- Ma (abbreviation)
- (female given name): Mae
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]Proper noun
[edit]May (countable and uncountable, plural Mays)
- 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.
- 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:
- 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.
- A surname from Middle English.
- A number of places in the United States:
- A former settlement in Amador County, California.
- An unincorporated community in Lemhi County, Idaho.
- An unincorporated community in McDonald County, Missouri.
- A small town in Harper County, Oklahoma.
- An unincorporated community in Brown County, Texas.
- An unincorporated community in Pocahontas County, West Virginia.
- 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
- 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
[edit]Descendants
[edit]Translations
[edit]fifth month of the Gregorian calendar
|
hawthorn or its blossoms
|
given name
See also
[edit]- (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
[edit]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
[edit]May (plural Mays)
- 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
- a female given name from English
- a surname from English
Quotations
[edit]For quotations using this term, see Citations:May.
Fijian
[edit]Proper noun
[edit]May
See also
[edit]- (Gregorian calendar months) Janueri, Veverueri, Maji, Epereli, May, June, Jiulai, Okosita, Seviteba, Okotova, Noveba, Tiseba (Category: fj:Months)
Middle French
[edit]Noun
[edit]May m (plural Mays)
- May (month)
Descendants
[edit]- French: mai
Norwegian
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Proper noun
[edit]May
- a female given name
Swedish
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Pronunciation
[edit]Audio: (file)
Proper noun
[edit]May c (genitive Mays)
- a female given name
Tagalog
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Pronunciation
[edit]- (Standard Tagalog) IPA(key): /ˈmej/ [ˈmeɪ̯]
- Rhymes: -ej
- Syllabification: May
Proper noun
[edit]May (Baybayin spelling ᜋᜒᜌ᜔)
- 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
- a female given name
Categories:
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms derived from Old French
- English terms derived from Latin
- English 1-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio pronunciation
- Rhymes:English/eɪ
- Rhymes:English/eɪ/1 syllable
- English lemmas
- English proper nouns
- English uncountable nouns
- English countable nouns
- English given names
- English female given names
- English terms with quotations
- English surnames
- English surnames from Middle English
- en:Places in the United States
- en:Historical settlements
- en:Unincorporated communities in Idaho, USA
- en:Unincorporated communities in the United States
- en:Places in Idaho, USA
- en:Unincorporated communities in Missouri, USA
- en:Places in Missouri, USA
- en:Towns in Oklahoma, USA
- en:Towns in the United States
- en:Places in Oklahoma, USA
- en:Unincorporated communities in Texas, USA
- en:Places in Texas, USA
- en:Unincorporated communities in West Virginia, USA
- en:Places in West Virginia, USA
- en:Townships
- en:Gregorian calendar months
- English terms derived from Dutch
- English terms derived from German
- English terms derived from Polish
- English terms derived from Old English
- English terms derived from Irish
- English terms derived from French
- English terms derived from Chinese
- English terms derived from Mayan languages
- English diminutives of female given names
- English eponyms
- en:Months
- Cebuano terms derived from English
- Cebuano terms derived from Middle English
- Cebuano terms derived from Old English
- Cebuano terms derived from Old French
- Cebuano terms derived from Latin
- Cebuano terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- Cebuano lemmas
- Cebuano proper nouns
- Cebuano given names
- Cebuano female given names
- Cebuano female given names from English
- Cebuano surnames
- Cebuano surnames from English
- Fijian lemmas
- Fijian proper nouns
- fj:Months
- Middle French lemmas
- Middle French nouns
- Middle French masculine nouns
- Middle French countable nouns
- frm:Months
- Norwegian terms derived from English
- Norwegian lemmas
- Norwegian proper nouns
- Norwegian given names
- Norwegian female given names
- Swedish terms derived from English
- Swedish terms with audio pronunciation
- Swedish lemmas
- Swedish proper nouns
- Swedish common-gender nouns
- Swedish given names
- Swedish female given names
- Tagalog terms borrowed from English
- Tagalog terms derived from English
- Tagalog 1-syllable words
- Tagalog terms with IPA pronunciation
- Rhymes:Tagalog/ej
- Rhymes:Tagalog/ej/1 syllable
- Tagalog terms with mabilis pronunciation
- Tagalog lemmas
- Tagalog proper nouns
- Tagalog terms with Baybayin script
- Tagalog given names
- Tagalog female given names
- Tagalog female given names from English
- Vietnamese terms with IPA pronunciation
- Vietnamese terms with homophones
- Vietnamese lemmas
- Vietnamese proper nouns
- Vietnamese given names
- Vietnamese female given names