May
English
Alternative forms
- (female given name): Mae
Etymology
From Middle English May, Mai, from Old French mai, from Latin māius (“Maia's month”), from Maia, a Roman earth goddess, possibly from Proto-Indo-European *magya (“she who is great”), from Proto-Indo-European *méǵh₂s (“great”)
Pronunciation
- enPR: mā, IPA(key): /meɪ/
Audio (GA) (file) - Rhymes: -eɪ
Proper noun
May (plural Mays)
- The fifth month of the Gregorian calendar, following April and preceding June.
- A female given name, 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 (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.
- 1856 E. D. E. N. Southworth, The Widow's Son, T. B. Peterson (1867), page 210:
- A surname.
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
- mayflower
- May flower
- 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-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
- 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
Descendants
- → Burmese: မေ (me)
Translations
fifth month of the Gregorian calendar
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hawthorn or its blossoms
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See also
Cebuano
Etymology
From English May, from Middle English, from Old English, from Old French mai, from Latin māius (“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”)
Quotations
For quotations of use of this term, see Citations:May.
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