mayate

Chayuco Mixtec

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish mayate, from a Nahuan language.

Noun

mayate

1. rhinoceros beetle

Derived terms

• mayate lee

References

• Pensinger, Brenda J. (1974), Diccionario mixteco-español, español-mixteco (Serie de vocabularios y diccionarios indígenas “Mariano Silva y Aceves”; 18)‎^[1] (in Spanish), México, D.F.: El Instituto Lingüístico de Verano en coordinación con la Secretaría de Educación Pública a través de la Dirección General de Educación Extraescolar en el Medio Indígena, page 19

Spanish

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /maˈʝate/ [maˈʝa.t̪e]

• IPA^(key): /maˈʝate/ [maˈʝa.t̪e] (everywhere but Pampas and southern Argentina, Uruguay, northern Mexico, Yucatán and Central America (except Panama))
• IPA^(key): /maˈʃate/ [maˈʃa.t̪e] (Buenos Aires and environs)
• IPA^(key): /maˈʒate/ [maˈʒa.t̪e] (elsewhere in Pampas and southern Argentina, Uruguay)
• IPA^(key): /maˈjate/ [maˈja.t̪e] (northern Mexico, Yucatán, Central America (except Panama))

• Rhymes: -ate
• Syllabification: ma‧ya‧te

Etymology 1

Borrowed from a Nahuan language; cf. Classical Nahuatl mayātl.

Noun

mayate m (plural mayates)

1. figeater beetle, June bug (Cotinis mutabilis)
2. (Mexico, slang) active (top) homosexual or bisexual
3. (US, derogatory, ethnic slur, slang) black person

See also

• pinacate

Etymology 2

Verb

mayate

1. second-person singular voseo imperative of mayar combined with te

Further reading

• “mayate”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025