English[edit | edit source]
Pronunciation[edit | edit source]
Etymology 1[edit | edit source]
Old English magan, from Germanic. Cognate with Dutch mogen, German mögen, Icelandic mega.
Verb[edit | edit source]
Infinitive |
Third person singular |
Simple past |
Past participle |
Present participle |
- (third-person singular simple present may, present participle -, simple past might, past participle -)
- (modal auxiliary verb, defective) To have permission to. Used in granting permission and in questions to make polite requests.
- You may smoke outside.
- May I sit there?
- (modal auxiliary verb, defective) Possibly, but not certainly.
- He may be lying.
- (subjunctive present, defective) Expressing something that is possibly true.
- come what may
- (subjunctive present, defective) Expressing wish or blessing.
- May you win. May the weather be sunny.
Usage notes[edit | edit source]
- May is a defective verb. It has no infinitive, no past participle, and no future tense. Forms of to be allowed to are used to replace these missing tenses.
- The simple past (both indicative and subjunctive) of may is might
- The present tense is negated as may not, which can be contracted to mayn't, although this is old-fashioned; the simple past is negated as might not, which can be contracted to mightn't.
- May has archaic second-person singular present indicative forms mayest and mayst.
- Usage of this word in the sense of possibly is considered incorrect by some speakers and writers, as it blurs the meaning of the word in the sense have permission to. These speakers and writers prefer to use the word might instead.
- Usage of this word in the sense of wish is often unstated, as in (may you) Have a great day!.
Synonyms[edit | edit source]
Derived terms[edit | edit source]
Translations[edit | edit source]
|
|
|
|
- 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.
See also[edit | edit source]
Etymology 2[edit | edit source]
French mai, so called because it blossoms in May.
Noun[edit | edit source]
Singular |
Plural |
May ({{{1}}})
Derived terms[edit | edit source]
Translations[edit | edit source]
|
|
Verb[edit | edit source]
Infinitive |
Third person singular |
Simple past |
Past participle |
Present participle |
to May (third-person singular simple present -, present participle -, simple past and past participle -)
- To gather may.
- 1922, A. E. Housman, Last Poems, VII, lines 1-2
- In valleys green and still / Where lovers wander maying
- 1922, A. E. Housman, Last Poems, VII, lines 1-2
Anagrams[edit | edit source]
Crimean Tatar[edit | edit source]
Noun[edit | edit source]
May
Declension[edit | edit source]
nominative | May |
---|---|
genitive | Maynıñ |
dative | Mayğa |
accusative | Maynı |
locative | Mayda |
ablative | Maydan |
Synonyms[edit | edit source]
Kurdish[edit | edit source]
Noun[edit | edit source]
May m.
Derived terms[edit | edit source]
Mapudungun[edit | edit source]
Adverb[edit | edit source]
May (using Raguileo Alphabet)[[Category:Template:Arn adverbs|May]]
Tagalog[edit | edit source]
Verb[edit | edit source]
May [[Category:{{[[Template:|{{{1}}}]]}} verbs|May]]
- there is
Tatar[edit | edit source]
Alternative spellings[edit | edit source]
Noun[edit | edit source]
May [[Category:Template:Tt nouns|May]]
- May (Month of the Year)
Declension[edit | edit source]
See also[edit | edit source]
ar:may az:may zh-min-nan:may da:may de:may et:may es:may fa:may fr:may fy:may ko:may io:may it:may kn:may kk:may sw:may ku:may lo:may lt:may li:may hu:may ml:may nl:may ja:may no:may km:may pl:may pt:may ro:may ru:may simple:may fi:may tl:may ta:may te:may th:may tr:may uk:may vi:may wa:may wo:may yi:may zh:may
- Pages with broken file links
- Old English derivations
- English verbs
- Check translations
- Translations to be checked (Hungarian)
- Translations to be checked (Ido)
- Translations to be checked (Polish)
- Translations to be checked (Romanian)
- Translations to be checked (Spanish)
- French derivations
- English nouns
- 100 English basic words
- English auxiliary verbs
- English defective verbs
- English irregular verbs
- English words with multiple etymologies
- Trees
- Crimean Tatar nouns
- Kurdish nouns
- Tt:Months