Mayan
Americanadjective
noun
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Mayans
plural
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a member of the Mayan tribe.
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a group of languages spoken by the Mayas in southern Mexico, Guatemala, and Belize, including Yucatec, Quiché, and Huastec.
adjective
noun
-
a family of Central American Indian languages, including Maya, possibly a member of the Penutian phylum
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another name for a Maya 2
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of Mayan
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The show, which was filmed at the Mayan Theater in downtown Los Angeles, is widely considered the first Latino sketch comedy to air on American television.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 24, 2026
Once-common literary references to Shakespeare or Dickens have now become as obscure in the common culture as so many Mayan inscriptions.
From Salon ● Apr. 19, 2026
New Mayan cities and communities—which were expected to have finite lifespans—emerged in proximity to abandoned places “that must have been understood as old yet still within historical memory.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 20, 2026
Plan Kukulkan, named after the serpent deity of the Mayan civilization, covers the host cities as well as nearby tourist destinations.
From Barron's ● Mar. 6, 2026
Contemporary Mayan people live today throughout the lands of their ancestors.
From "An Indigenous People’s History of the United States" by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
A few accounts say friars who presented Guatemalan Mayans to Philip II of Spain in 1544 also gifted him cacao beans.
From Salon ● Feb. 17, 2025
It has two plazas with temple pyramids, where Mayans would have worshipped, hidden treasures like jade masks and buried their dead.
From BBC ● Oct. 28, 2024
Red has been used to adorn the body in many cultures, including the ancient Egyptians, Mayans, Roman generals and during the Renaissance.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 7, 2024
A whole network of Konstanz researchers dedicated themselves to unravelling the mystery, including Bernhard Schink, Nicolai Müller, David Schleheck, Jennifer Fleming and Olga Mayans.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 10, 2023
Like the Egyptians, the Mayans also had an excellent solar calendar.
From "Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea" by Charles Seife
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
