see|May|mấy
wikipedia|May (disambiguation)
English

rank|very|upon|man|70|may|about|its|time

Pronunciation
enPR|m�, IPA|/meɪ/, SAMPA|/meI/
audio|en-us-May.ogg|Audio (US)
:rhymes|eɪ

Etymology 1
OE. term|magan|maġan|lang=ang.

Verb
en-verb|inf=-|may|-|might|-

1. context|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?

1. context|modal auxiliary verb|defective possibly|Possibly, but not certainly.

#: He may be lying.

1. context|subjunctive present|defective Expressing something that is possibly true.

#:come what may

Usage notes
term|may|May is a defective verb. It has no infinitive, past participle and no future tense. Forms of term|to be allowed to are used to replace these missing tenses.
The simple past (both indicative and subjunctive) of term|may is term|might
The present tense is negated as term|may term|not, which can be contracted to term|mayn't, although this is old-fashioned; the simple past is negated as term|might term|not, which can be contracted to term|mightn't.)
term|may|May has archaic second-person singular present indicative forms term|mayest and term|mayst.
Usage of this word in the sense of term|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 term|might instead.

Synonyms
sense|have permission to can, could, might
sense|possibly could, might
sense|in subjunctive might

Derived terms
rel-top3|term derived from "may"
as the case may be
be it as it may, be that as it may, be this as it may
come what may
devil-may-care
if I may
I may not but
it may well with, may well with
let the chips fall where they may
rel-mid3
may as well
maybe
may chance
may-fall
may-fortune
mayhap
mayhappen
may I?
rel-mid3
may-issue
mayn't
may-tide
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
rel-bottom

Translations
trans-top|have permission to
Danish: må
Czech: sm�t
Finnish: voida, saada
French: pouvoir
German: dürfen, könnten
Greek: μ�ο�� (boró), ε�ι��έ�ε�αι (epitrépete)
Icelandic: mega, mátt
Indonesian: boleh / dapat / bisa
trans-mid
Italian: potere
Japanese: ����� (shité mo íi)
Norwegian: kan, får
Persian: FAchar|ت�ا�ست�|ت��ا��ست�� (tæv�nestæn)
Polish: móc
Portuguese: poder
Swedish: få, kan
Tagalog: maaari, puwede
trans-bottom

trans-top|possibly, but not certainly
Czech: moci
Danish: måske
Finnish: voida, saattaa
French: peut-être, il se peut que + subjunctive
:He may be lying � Il ment peut-être, Il se peut qu�il mente.
Greek: ί���, μάλλον
Icelandic: geta
Indonesian: mungkin / barangkali / bisa jadi / bisa saja
Italian: forse, può essere che + subjunctive
:He may be lying � Forse sta mentendo, Può essere che stia mentendo
trans-mid
Japanese: �� (���, tábun)
Norwegian: kan være, also expressed with adv. kanskje
:He may be lying - Det kan være han lyver/Kanskje han lyver
Persian: FAchar|شا�د|شا��د (š�yæd)
Polish: móc
Portuguese: poder
Swedish: kan, kanske
Tagalog: maaari, puwede
trans-bottom

trans-top|subjunctive
French: use subjunctive of pouvoir
trans-mid
Italian: use subjunctive of potere
Swedish: må, or rarely, -e
trans-bottom

ttbc-top
ttbc|Hungarian: lehet
:You may smoke outside � Kivul dohányozhat.
:May I sit there? � Oda ülhetnék?
:He may be lying � Lehet, hogy hazudik.
ttbc|Ido: forsan (4, 5), darfas (1, 2)
ttbc|Polish: możliwe, że (2)
:He may be lying - Możliwe, że on k�amie.
ttbc|Romanian: putea
ttbc|Spanish: poder
ttbc-bottom

Etymology 2
F. term|mai|lang=fr, so called because it blossoms in term|May.

Noun
en-noun

1. The hawthorn bush or its blossoms.

Derived terms
Italian may
mayhaw

Translations
trans-top|the hawthorn bush or its blossom
Bulgarian: глог (glog) m
Finnish: orapihlaja
French: aubépine f
German: Wei�dornblüte f
Greek: λε�κάκανθα (lefkákantha) f
trans-mid
Italian: biancospino m
Ojibwe: miinensagaawanzh, miinensagaawanzhiig p
Portuguese: pirilteiro m, estrepeiro m
Russian: бо����ник (bojáryšnik) m, бо����ники (bojáryšniki) p
Spanish: espino m, marzoleto m
trans-bottom

Etymology 3
From term|May, the name of the month.

Verb
en-verb|-|-|-

1. rfv-sense intransitive to celebrate the month of May or May Day

Derived terms
mayer
maying

Category:100 English basic words
Category:English auxiliary verbs
Category:English irregular verbs
Category:English words with multiple etymologies
Category:Trees

Crimean Tatar

Noun
infl|crh|noun

1. butter, oil

Declension
crh-latin-noun|nıñ|ga|nı|da|dan

Kurdish

Noun
infl|ku|noun|g=m

1. intervention

Derived terms
may tê dan|mayê xwe tê dan
maytêder
maytêderî
maytêker
maytêkerî
may tê kirin|mayê xwe tê kirin

Tagalog

Verb
infl|tl|verb

1. there is

Tatar
Month of the Year: may
*Previous: äpril
*Next: yün#Tatar|yün

Alternative spellings
май

Noun
infl|tt|noun

1. May

Declension
tt-latin-noun|nıñ|ga|nı|da|dan

Category:tt:Months|5

ar:may
az:may
zh-min-nan:may
da:may
de:may
et:may
fa:may
fr:may
ko:may
io:may
it:may
ku:may
hu:may
nl:may
ja:may
km:may
pl:may
pt:may
ro:may
ru:may
simple:may
fi:may
ta:may
te:may
vi:may
tr:may
uk:may
yi:may
zh:may

• 2007-11-23 13:37 - Interwicket - iwiki +zh-min-nan

Full Revision History