English

Proper noun

Maya ‎(plural Mayas or Maya)

1. A Mesoamerican civilization that existed in and around Guatemala in the 4th to 10th centuries.
2. Any of the Mayan languages, such as Quiché and Yucatec.

Translations

Noun

Maya ‎(plural Mayas)

1. A member or descendant of these people.

See also

• Aztec
• Inca
• Mesoamerica
• Olmec
• Toltec

External links

Ethnologue report on the Maya languages

Etymology 2

From Maria, ultimately from Hebrew, and from Maia, from Latin.

Proper noun

Maya

1. A female given name of modern usage.
   • 1988 Arianna Stassinopoulos Huffington, Picasso, Creator and Destroyer, Simon and Schuster, ISBN 0671454463, page 240

     When her little friends asked her what her name was, her father replied that it was Conchita - his diminutive for Maria de la Concepción. "Con-what?" they would ask again, aware, apparently, that con in French is a fool, an idiot. So her parents started calling her Maria, which from the little girl's lips soon began to sound like Maya. "Maya!" exclaimed her father. "It's perfect. It means the greatest illusion on earth." So Maya it was from then on - Maya Walter.

Translations

Etymology 3

Borrowing from Sanskrit माया ‎(māyā́).

Proper noun

Maya

1. In Sanskrit, illusion; God's physical and metaphysical creation (literally, "not this").
2. A female given name used in India.
   • 1993 Vikram Seth, A Suitable Boy, Phoenix House, ISBN 1897580207, page 891

     Eventually, Pran and Savita decided by correspondence on Maya. Its two simple syllables meant, among other things: the goddess Lakshmi, illusion, fascination, art, the goddess Durga, kindness, and the name of the mother of Buddha. It also meant: ignorance, delusion, fraud, guile, and hypocrisy; but no one who named their daughter Maya ever paid any attention to those pejorative possibilities.

     - - - 'Why ever not, Ma?' said Meenakshi.'It's a very Bengali name, a very nice name.'

Anagrams

• Yama

Danish

Proper noun

Maya

1. A female given name, a modern spelling variant of Maja.

French

Noun

Maya m, f ‎(plural Mayas)

1. Mayan (person)

German

Proper noun

Maya

1. A female given name of modern usage, a variant of Maja ( =Maria).

Turkish

Proper noun

Maya

1. A female given name
2. a mountain name in Balkans

Aymara

Numeral

maya (mä)

1. (cardinal) one

   Mä utanïtwa.

   I have one house.

Derived terms

• mayiri
• mapita

Cebuano

Noun

maya

1. Any bird of the genus Lonchura.
2. The chestnut munia (Lonchura atricapilla).

Finnish

Pronunciation

• Hyphenation: ma‧ya
• Homophone: Maija

Noun

maya

1. Maya

Declension

French

Adjective

maya m, f ‎(plural mayas)

1. Mayan (relating to the Mayans)
2. Mayan (relating to the Mayan language)

Usage notes

• The plural of maya may either be mayas or maya.

Hausa

Noun

mā̀yā m

1. weevil

Portuguese

Noun

maya m f (plural mayas)

1. Obsolete spelling of maia

Adjective

maya m, f ‎(plural mayas, not comparable)

1. Obsolete spelling of maia

Spanish

Etymology 1

Originally from Mayan

Adjective

maya m, f ‎(plural mayas)

1. Mayan (from Maya)

Noun

maya m, f ‎(plural mayas)

1. Mayan (person)
2. Mayan (language)

Etymology 2

From the verb mayar ‎(“to miaow”)

Verb

maya

1. Third-person singular (él, ella, also used with usted^?) present indicative form of mayar.
2. Informal second-person singular (tú) affirmative imperative form of mayar.

Swahili

Noun

maya (needs class)

1. anger

Turkish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [mɑjɑ]
• Hyphenation: ma‧ya

Noun

maya ‎(definite accusative mayayı, plural mayalar)

1. yeast (to make bread; fungi)
2. Mountain name in Balkans.
3. Female camel

Declension

Adjective

maya

1. nature