May
Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
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English [edit]
Alternative forms [edit]
- (female given name): Mae
Etymology [edit]
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
Pronunciation [edit]
Proper noun [edit]
May (plural Mays)
- The fifth month of the Gregorian calendar, following April and preceding June.
- The hawthorn or its blossoms (as it blooms in May)
- 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 0091497302, 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 9780701184667, 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 [edit]
- May (or Mae) is often used in conjoined names (e.g., Lillie Mae, Katie Mae, Fannie Mae).
Derived terms [edit]
Related terms [edit]
Translations [edit]
fifth month of the Gregorian calendar
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hawthorn or its blossoms
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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)
Anagrams [edit]
Middle French [edit]
Noun [edit]
May m (plural Mays)
- May (month)
Norwegian [edit]
Etymology [edit]
From English May.
Proper noun [edit]
May
- A female given name.
Swedish [edit]
Etymology [edit]
From English May.
Proper noun [edit]
May
- A female given name.
Categories:
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms derived from Old English
- English terms derived from Old French
- English terms derived from Latin
- English proper nouns
- English female given names from English
- English surnames
- English surnames from Middle English
- en:Gregorian calendar months
- English diminutives of female given names
- English eponyms
- Middle French nouns
- frm:Months
- Norwegian terms derived from English
- Norwegian proper nouns
- Norwegian female given names
- Swedish terms derived from English
- Swedish proper nouns
- Swedish female given names
