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May Definition

See also May, máy, mày, and mấy

Contents

English

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

Old English magan, from Germanic. Cognate with Dutch mogen, German mögen, Icelandic megum.

Verb

- (third-person singular simple present may, present participle -, simple past might, past participle -)

  1. (obsolete, intransitive) To be strong; to have power (over). [8th-17th c.]
  2. (obsolete, auxiliary) To be able; can. [8th-17th c.]
    • 1621, Robert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy, II.3.6:
      But many times [...] we give way to passions we may resist and will not.
  3. (intransitive, poetic) To be able to go. [from 9th c.]
    • 1600, William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream, III.3:
      O weary night, O long and tedious night, / Abate thy houres, shine comforts from the East, / That I may backe to Athens by day-light [...].
  4. (modal auxiliary verb, defective) To have permission to, be allowed. Used in granting permission and in questions to make polite requests. [from 9th c.]
    You may smoke outside.
    May I sit there?
  5. (modal auxiliary verb, defective) Expressing a present possibility; possibly. [from 13th c.]
    He may be lying.
  6. (subjunctive present, defective) Expressing a wish (with present subjunctive effect). [from 16th c.]
    May you win. May the weather be sunny.
    • 1974, Bob Dylan, Forever Young
      May God bless and keep you always
      May your wishes all come true
      May you always do for others
      And let others do for you
      May you build a ladder to the stars
      And climb on every rung
      May you stay forever young
Usage notes
Synonyms
Derived terms
term derived from "may"
  • may-issue
  • mayn't
  • may you live in interesting times
  • that is as may be, that's as may be
  • those who will not when they may, when they will they shall have nay
  • what-you-may-call-it
Translations
have permission to
  • Italian: potere it(it)
  • Japanese: してもいい (shité mo íi)
  • Korean: 할 수 있다 (hal su itda)
  • Latin: possum la(la), (use the subjunctive tense of the verb that follows ) sim la(la) (i may be), mihi licet la(la)
  • Norwegian: kan no(no), får no(no), må no(no)
  • Persian: تَوانِستَن (tævānestæn)
  • Polish: móc pl(pl)
  • Portuguese: poder pt(pt)
  • Russian: мочь ru(ru) (moč’), можно ru(ru) (móžno) (predicative)
  • Spanish: poder es(es)
  • Swedish: få sv(sv), kunna sv(sv), kan sv(sv)
  • Tagalog: maaari, puwede
possibly, but not certainly
  • Italian: forse, può essere che + subjunctive; He may be lying — Forse sta mentendo, Può essere che stia mentendo
  • Japanese: 多分 (たぶん, tábun), かも知れない (かもしれない, kamo shirenai)
  • Latin: (use the subjunctive tense of the verb that follows ) sim la(la) (i may be being)
  • Norwegian: kan være no(no), also expressed with adv. kanskje no(no); He may be lying - Det kan være han lyver/Kanskje han lyver
  • Persian: شایَد fa(fa) (šāyæd)
  • Polish: móc pl(pl)
  • Portuguese: poder pt(pt)
  • Russian: может быть (móžet bytʹ) may be, мочь (moč’)
  • Swedish: kan sv(sv), kanske sv(sv)
  • Tagalog: maaari, puwede
subjunctive
  • Dutch: mogen nl(nl); come what may - komen wat komen moge
  • French: use subjunctive of pouvoir
  • Italian: use subjunctive of potere
  • Latin: (use the subjunctive tense of the verb that follows ) sim la(la) (i may be)
  • Swedish: må sv(sv), or rarely, -e sv(sv)
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.
Translations to be checked
  • Hungarian: lehet; You may smoke outside — Kivul dohányozhat.; May I sit there? — Oda ülhetnék?; He may be lying — Lehet, hogy hazudik.
  • Ido: forsan (4, 5), darfas (1, 2)
  • Polish: możliwe, że (2); He may be lying - Możliwe, że on kłamie.
  • Romanian: putea
  • Spanish: poder

See also

Etymology 2

French mai, so called because it blossoms in May.

Noun

may (plural mays)

  1. The hawthorn bush or its blossoms.
Derived terms
Translations
the hawthorn bush or its blossom
  • Bulgarian: глог bg(bg) (glog) m.
  • Finnish: orapihlaja fi(fi)
  • French: aubépine fr(fr) f.
  • German: Weißdornblüte f.
  • Greek: λευκάκανθα (lefkákantha) f.
  • Hungarian: (bush) galagonya hu(hu), galagonyavirág hu(hu)
  • Italian: biancospino it(it) m.
  • Ojibwe: miinensagaawanzh, miinensagaawanzhiig pl.
  • Portuguese: pirilteiro m., estrepeiro m.
  • Russian: боярышник ru(ru) (bojáryšnik) m.
  • Spanish: espino m., marzoleto m.

Verb

to may (third-person singular simple present mays, present participle maying, simple past and past participle mayed)

  1. To gather may.

Statistics

Anagrams

Crimean Tatar

Noun

may

  1. butter, oil

Declension

declension of may
nominative may
genitive maynıñ
dative mayğa
accusative maynı
locative mayda
ablative maydan

Synonyms

Kurdish

Noun

may m.

  1. intervention

Derived terms

Mapudungun

Adverb

may (using Raguileo Alphabet)

  1. yes

References

Tagalog

Verb

may

  1. there is

Tatar

Alternative forms

Noun

may

  1. May (Month of the Year)

Declension

declension of may
Nominative may
Genitive maynıñ
Dative mayga
Accusative maynı
Locative mayda
Ablative maydan

See also

Walloon

Walloon Wikipedia has an article on: May

Wikipedia wa

Noun

may

  1. May (month)

 

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More Definition Results for "May"
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'May' Information

May (listen) (help·info) is the fifth month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian Calendars and one of seven months with the length of 31 days.
from: Wikipedia: may,
Mon Apr 23 00:13:55 2012
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