Mayan

[ mah-yuhn ]

/ ˈmɑ yən /

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adjective

of or relating to the Maya, their culture, or their languages.

noun

a member of the Mayan tribe.

a group of languages spoken by the Mayas in southern Mexico, Guatemala, and Belize, including Yucatec, Quiché, and Huastec.

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Origin of Mayan

First recorded in 1885–90; May(a) + -an

OTHER WORDS FROM Mayan

pseudo-Mayan, adjective, noun

Words nearby Mayan

Maxwell's field equations, may, maya, Mayagüez, Mayakovski, Mayan, May apple, Mayas, maybe, Maybeck, May beetle

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use Mayan in a sentence

When he arrived in Valley Center, where he and his family found work as field laborers, around 1996 he spoke only Q’anjob’al, an indigenous Mayan language.
At 8, He Was a Migrant Worker in North County. Now, He’s a School Board Member.|Will Huntsberry|February 9, 2022|Voice of San Diego
Most of the pieces went up for sale anyway, including a stone Mayan carving called “Hacha Maya,” depicting a bearded man with his head thrown back and struggling with a rattlesnake, which was sold for $800,000 to an unknown buyer.
Auction Houses Sell Off Mexican History to the Super-Elite|Luis Chaparro|November 29, 2021|The Daily Beast
A stone Mayan carving called “Hacha Maya” up for auction at Christie’s.
Auction Houses Sell Off Mexican History to the Super-Elite|Luis Chaparro|November 29, 2021|The Daily Beast
Waters studies records of algal blooms at the bottoms of lakes and other waterways in the Southeast, while his colleague Mark Brenner, a coauthor on the study, studies environmental conditions during the Mayan city-building period.
Ancient cities had toxic pollution, too|Philip Kiefer|November 22, 2021|Popular-Science

It was the ideal place to ask whether Mayan urban societies had impacted their water quality.
Ancient cities had toxic pollution, too|Philip Kiefer|November 22, 2021|Popular-Science
Los Angeles was wonderfully exotic; a polyglot mix of Aztec, Incan, Mayan and New World scents and sounds.
The Liberal Case Against Illegal Immigration|Doug McIntyre|November 25, 2014|DAILY BEAST
While chipping away plaster from his kitchen wall, the Guatemalan man unearthed a series of centuries-old Mayan murals.
7 Historically Significant Artifacts Rescued by Happenstance|The Daily Beast|October 24, 2014|DAILY BEAST
One depicts a procession of figures wearing both Mayan and Spanish garb, some holding what appear to be human hearts.
7 Historically Significant Artifacts Rescued by Happenstance|The Daily Beast|October 24, 2014|DAILY BEAST
One of the largest sites of pre-Columbian Mayan ruins, Tikal was once one of the most important cities in the Mayan world.
There Are Bugs in Your Coffee and Other Things I Learned in Antigua, Guatemala|William O’Connor|January 10, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Paradise Island is now home to Vegas-style casino resorts and the Aquaventure Waterpark, with its mammoth Mayan Temple waterslide.
Catch Beatles Fever! Ten Essential Travel Destinations for Beatlemaniacs|Lonely Planet|January 3, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Yucatan is covered with interesting ruins, the remains of different branches of the mighty Mayan race.
Mexico|Susan Hale
Such are the monuments of the Mayan people, of whom not many facts are to be disentangled from the early legends.
Mexico|Susan Hale
Aguilar, the interpreter, knew Mayan, but not one word did he understand of the Aztec dialect now spoken.
Mexico|Susan Hale
The cross occurs frequently, not only in the Mayan sculptures, but also in the ceremonial of the Aztecs.
The Story of Extinct Civilizations of the West|Robert E. Anderson
Passing from the traces of Aztec and Mayan civilization, we may now glance at the antiquities of the Colombian states.
The Story of Extinct Civilizations of the West|Robert E. Anderson

British Dictionary definitions for Mayan

Mayan

/ (ˈmaɪən) /

adjective

of, relating to, or characteristic of the Maya or any of their languages

noun

a family of Central American Indian languages, including Maya, possibly a member of the Penutian phylum

another name for a Maya 2

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012