mayday

/ˈmeɪ.deɪ/

//ˈmeɪ.deɪ// noun

The verdict

“mayday” is uncommon Portuguese (frequency #53,997 among 1,087 “M” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#53,997
frequency rank, Portuguese
1,087
“M” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - pedido de socorro internacional emitido por navio ou aeronave

Corpus desk

Index PT-mayday · mayday · Portuguese

mayday · rank #53,997 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #53,997
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 1,087
  • PHOTO-FINISH lojista

Nearest frequency peer: lojista (-11 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Ranks da cauda longa perto de “mayday”

Faixa escassa: as barras invertem o rank para o raro ler-se mais curto

corpus weight

What this shows Vista da cauda longa: onde “mayday” se situa face a ranks portugueses igualmente raros.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for mayday
PropertyValue
Headwordmayday
LanguagePortuguese
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ˈmeɪ.deɪ/
Letters6
Frequency rank#53,997
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Cauda longa: rank de “mayday” em português

A frequência vai do punhado de palavras do dia a dia (esquerda) à cauda longa quase nunca usada (direita).maydaycai nesta cauda de raridade:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

O eixo é logarítmico: cada tick marca cerca de dez vezes menos frequência. Vizinhos raros da mesma faixa: “lojista” (#53,986), “morteiro” (#54,012), “nefasto” (#54,019). Entre 1,087 lemas com “M”, “mayday” fica em #53,997. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

mayday is uncommon Portuguese at frequency #53,997 among 1,087 “M” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈmeɪ.deɪ/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "pedido de socorro internacional emitido por navio ou aeronave".

Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for mayday, suggesting the orthography follows predictable Portuguese patterns. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.

Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct Portuguese form is mayday, spelled M-A-Y-D-A-Y.

Definition

  1. 1
    pedido de socorro internacional emitido por navio ou aeronave

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 Portuguese corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "mayday"?
"mayday" is spelled M-A-Y-D-A-Y. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈmeɪ.deɪ/.
What does "mayday" mean?
As a noun, "mayday" means: pedido de socorro internacional emitido por navio ou aeronave
How do you pronounce "mayday"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "mayday" is /ˈmeɪ.deɪ/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "mayday" come from?
"mayday" is a Portuguese word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar Portuguese words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "mayday", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked Portuguese headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list