may
//meɪ//
Forms
- present (v1)
- may
- past (v2)
- might
- past participle (v3)
- mayed
- present participle
- maying
- 3rd person singular
- may
- Plural
- mays
Definitions
1.To be able to go.
- May I have a glass of milk, please?
- I may give up soon and just nap instead.
- I think Tom is from Australia, but I may be wrong.
2.To have permission to, be allowed. Used in granting permission and in questions to make polite requests.
- May I have a glass of milk, please?
- I may give up soon and just nap instead.
- I think Tom is from Australia, but I may be wrong.
3.Granting the admissibility of a supposition, in a way that can be semantically either subjunctive or indicative.
- Schrödinger's cat may or may not be in the box.
- You may be my boss, but that doesn't mean you can insult me.
4.Expressing a wish (with present subjunctive effect).
- Let us pray that peace may soon return to our war-torn homeland.
1.The hawthorn bush or its blossoms.
- The fire from Lindfield was coming down the grassy hillside to the right between the hedges of may.
Frequency
Overall
Very common· #127
By learning goal
- Everyday conversation
- Common
- General reading & writing
- Very common
- Academic
- Common
- Literature
- Rare
Related words
Etymology
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”).