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PlainSpell

may

/meɪ/verb, noun

may is spelled M-A-Y: 3 letters and one syllable. It appears 955 times per million words in written English, the 113th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, may means “To be able to go” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in may?

Letters3: M-A-Y
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing955 times per million words; the 113th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Rhymes with
Same letters

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is may?

May appears 955 times per million words in written English, the 113th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce may?

  • US /meɪ/
  • British /mɛj/
  • Australia /mæɪ/

May has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-May.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with may?

The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as may from its last stressed vowel (/eɪ/):

Spelled with the same letters in another order: yam.

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of may

  • might past
  • maye
  • mays present, singular, he/she/it, plural
  • maying participle, present
  • mayed participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does may mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

verb

  1. 1

    obsoleteTo be strong; to have power (over).

  2. 2

    obsoleteTo be able; can.

  3. 3

    To be able to go.

  4. 4

    To have permission to, be allowed. Used in granting permission and in questions to make polite requests.

    you may smoke outside

  5. 5

    Expressing a present possibility; possibly.

    he may be lying

  6. 6

    Expressing a disjunctive or contrastive relation between indicative statements.

    You may be my boss, but that doesn't mean you can insult me.

  7. 7

    Expressing a wish (with present subjunctive effect).

    may you win;  may the weather be sunny;  long may your reign last

  8. 8

    Used in modesty, courtesy, or concession, or to soften a question or remark.

  9. 9

    To gather may, or flowers in general.

  10. 10

    To celebrate May Day.

noun

  1. 1

    The hawthorn bush or its blossoms.

  2. 2

    archaicA maiden.

proper noun

as May
  1. 1

    The fifth month of the Gregorian calendar, following April and preceding June.

    Holonyms: calendar year; year

  2. 2

    A female given name, usually pet name for Mary and Margaret, reinforced by the month and plant meaning.

  3. 3

    A surname from Middle English.

  4. 4

    Theresa May, former British prime minister.

  5. 5

    A former settlement in Amador County, California.

  6. 6

    An unincorporated community in Lemhi County, Idaho.

  7. 7

    An unincorporated community in McDonald County, Missouri.

  8. 8

    A small town in Harper County, Oklahoma.

  9. 9

    A surname.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

May in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchpouvoir (have permission to), peut-être, se pouvoir (possibly, but not certainly), aubépine (the hawthorn bush or its blossom), mai (fifth month of the Gregorian calendar)
Germandürfen, können (have permission to), mögen (possibly, but not certainly), Weißdornblüte (the hawthorn bush or its blossom), Mai (fifth month of the Gregorian calendar), sollen (subjunctive)
Portuguesepoder (have permission to), talvez (possibly, but not certainly), pilriteiro, estrepeiro (the hawthorn bush or its blossom), maio (fifth month of the Gregorian calendar), que (subjunctive)
Spanishpoder (have permission to), tal vez, poder ser, puede que (possibly, but not certainly), que, ojalá que (subjunctive)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does may come from?

From Middle English magen, mauen, mawe, mawen, mayen, maȝen, mouin, mow, mowen, moȝen, mugen, from Old English magan, from Proto-West Germanic *magan, from Proto-Germanic *maganą (“to be able, may”), from Proto-Indo-European *(me)mógʰe (“to be able”), from *megʰ- (“to be able”).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

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