maior

See also: maiôr and măior

Galician

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin maiōrem.

Adjective

maior m or f (plural maiores)

1. bigger, greater, major

   Antonym: menor

2. (music) major

   Antonym: menor

Synonyms

• meirande

Related terms

• maioría

Latin

Alternative forms

• major, maiior

Etymology

From Proto-Italic *magjōs, from Proto-Indo-European *méǵh₂yōs, from *meǵh₂- (“great”) +‎ *-yōs (comparative suffix).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈmaj.jɔr]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈmaː.jor]
• The first syllable contains a short vowel followed by a long (double) consonantal -i-. For the purpose of Latin scansion, this forms a long syllable. Although many dictionaries mark vowels in this context with a macron, the vowel itself is not long.

Adjective

maior (comparative, neuter maius); third declension

1. comparative degree of magnus

   Antonym: minor

   • 44 BCE, Cicero, De Officiis:

     Quamquam Africanus maiorem laudem meo iudicio assequebatur.

     Yet, in my judgment, Africanus earned the greater praise.

Inflection

Third-declension comparative adjective, with locative.

	singular			plural
	masc./fem.	neuter		masc./fem.	neuter
nominative	maior	maius		maiōrēs	maiōra
genitive	maiōris			maiōrum
dative	maiōrī			maiōribus
accusative	maiōrem	maius		maiōrēs maiōrīs	maiōra
ablative	maiōre maiōrī			maiōribus
vocative	maior	maius		maiōrēs	maiōra
locative	maiōrī maiōre			maiōribus

Derived terms

• maiestās (noun)
• maiusculus (diminutive)

Descendants

Descendants

• Aromanian: mari
• Asturian: mayor
• Catalan: major
• Dalmatian: maur
• → Dutch: meier
• → English: major
• French: major, majeur, maire, majorer, mayeur
  • → English: major, mayor, majorate
  • → Irish: méara
  • → Finnish: määri
  • → Portuguese: major
  • → Romanian: major
  • → Russian: мажор (mažor), мэр (mɛr)
• Friulian: maiôr, majôr
• Galician: maior
• → German: Meier
• Istriot: maiur
• Italian: maggiore, maggiorare
• Ladin: majer
• Megleno-Romanian: mari
• Norman: maire
• Occitan: major, màger
• → Old Irish: maer
  • Irish: maor
• Piedmontese: magior
• Portuguese: mor, maior
• → Proto-Brythonic: *maɨr
  • Breton: maer
  • Cornish: mer
  • Welsh: maer
• Romanian: mare
• → Russian: майор (major)
• Sardinian: magiori, mere
• → Scots: mair
• Sicilian: maggiuri, majuri
• Spanish: mayor, mayorar, Mallorca or Majorca
  • → German: Major
    • → Romanian: maior
    • → Swedish: major
      • → Finnish: majuri
• Venetan: maxor, mazor

Noun

maior m (genitive maiōris); third declension

1. (in the plural) ancestors, forefathers; advanced in years, the aged; the elders
   • 106 BCE – 43 BCE, Cicero, Pro Archia Poeta Oratio line 284:

     Ergo illum, qui haec fecerat, Rudinum hominem, maiores nostri in civitatem receperunt.

     Therefore Ennius, who composed these poems, although a man from Rudiae, our ancestors granted him citizenship.

   • 8 CE, Ovid, Fasti 5.73–74:

     ‘hinc sua maiōrēs tribuisse vocābula Maiō
     tangor et aetātī cōnsuluisse suae.’

     ‘‘Because of this, the ancestors granted their name to May,
     I have come to grasp, and in regard to their own old age.’’
     (The muse Urania claims that the month of May honors the ‘‘maiōrēs’’ – ‘‘ancestors’’ or ‘‘elders’’.)

2. (Medieval Latin) A mayor (a leader of a city or town).

Inflection

Third-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	maior	maiōrēs
genitive	maiōris	maiōrum
dative	maiōrī	maiōribus
accusative	maiōrem	maiōrēs
ablative	maiōre	maiōribus
vocative	maior	maiōrēs

Descendants

• Old French: maire m
  • Middle French: maire m
    • French: maire m
  • Norman: maire m
  • → Middle English: maire
    • English: mayor

Further reading

• “major”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “maior”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• maior in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • the elde: maior (natu)
    
  • the majority: maior pars
    
  • (ambiguous) to exaggerate a thing: in maius ferre, in maius extollere aliquid
    
  • (ambiguous) to overestimate a thing: in maius accipere aliquid
    
  • (ambiguous) to deteriorate: a maiorum virtute desciscere, degenerare, deflectere
    
  • (ambiguous) according to the custom and tradition of my fathers: more institutoque maiorum (Mur. 1. 1)
    
  • (ambiguous) what is more important: quod maius est
    
• maior in Ramminger, Johann (2016 July 16 (last accessed)) Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700‎^[2], pre-publication website, 2005-2016
• “maior”, in William Smith, editor (1848), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, London: John Murray

Old French

Alternative forms

• major
• majour
• majur
• maor

Etymology

Latin maior.

Adjective

maior (oblique singular, nominative singular maire)

1. bigger; larger
2. very large

References

• Godefroy, Frédéric, Dictionnaire de l'ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IX^e au XV^e siècle (1881) (maior)
• maiur on the Anglo-Norman On-Line Hub

Portuguese

Alternative forms

• mayor (obsolete)

Etymology

From Old Galician-Portuguese maior, mayor, from Latin maiōrem, from Proto-Indo-European *mag- (“great”) + *-yos (comparative suffix). Doublet of major.

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /majˈɔʁ/ [maɪ̯ˈɔh]

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /majˈɔʁ/ [maɪ̯ˈɔh]
  • (São Paulo) IPA^(key): /majˈɔɾ/ [maɪ̯ˈɔɾ]
  • (Rio de Janeiro) IPA^(key): /majˈɔʁ/ [maɪ̯ˈɔχ]
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /majˈɔɻ/ [maɪ̯ˈɔɻ]

 

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /mɐjˈɔɾ/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /mɐjˈɔɾ/
  • (Southern Portugal) IPA^(key): /mɐjˈɔ.ɾi/

• (Northern Portugal) IPA^(key): /majˈɔɾ/

• Audio (Northern Portugal):

  (file)

• Audio (Portugal):

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• Audio (Brazil):

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• Rhymes: (Portugal, São Paulo) -ɔɾ, (Brazil) -ɔʁ
• Hyphenation: mai‧or

Adjective

maior m or f (plural maiores)

1. (followed by que) comparative degree of grande; bigger, larger

   Antonym: menor

   Melancias são maiores que laranjas.

   Watermelons are bigger than oranges.

2. (preceded by a definite article) superlative degree of grande; biggest, largest

   Antonym: menor

   Júpiter é o maior planeta do Sistema Solar.

   Jupiter is the largest planet in the Solar System.

3. major, greater

   Antonym: menor

   um desafio maior

   a major challenge

4. (music) major

   Antonym: menor

5. (Brazil, informal) big, great

   Synonym: mó

   Ele é maior idiota...

   He is a big idiot

Derived terms

• maioria
• maiormente

Adverb

maior

1. (Brazil, informal) very, quite

   Synonyms: bem, bastante, mó

   Essa comida comida tem um gosto maior ruim.

   That food tastes very bad.

Further reading

• “maior”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2025

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from Russian майор (major) or German Major, from Latin maior. Doublet of major and possibly mare.

Noun

maior m (plural maiori)

1. major

Declension

Declension of maior

	singular			plural
	indefinite	definite		indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	maior	maiorul		maiori	maiorii
genitive-dative	maior	maiorului		maiori	maiorilor
vocative	maiorule			maiorilor