Etymologically
Log in

may

History Permalink

Etymology and origin of the English word may

Pronunciation

may1 modal verb

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
900
Inherited from
Old English mæg via Middle English
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European *magh-

Etymology

The modal verb is inherited from Middle English mai, the first and third person singular of mouen,[2][3][4] inherited from Old English mæg (“am able”), the same form of magan (“to be strong, be able”), with the past tense meahte or mihte.[5][3][2] It goes back through Proto-Germanic *maganą to Proto-Indo-European *magh- (“to be able, have power”),[5][3][2] which Ayto and Hoad write *mogh- and *megh-.[6][7] The verb is cognate with Old Frisian muga, Old Saxon mugan, Dutch mogen, German mögen, Old Norse mega and Gothic 𐌼𐌰𐌲𐌰𐌽 (magan).[8][5][3] It belongs with can and shall to the preterite-present verbs,[5][7][9] whose present tense is inflected like a strong past tense, though the OED notes that it is hard to place in a Germanic verb class and may not have been preterite-present originally.[8] The same base gave might and main,[8][7][6][10] and Lithuanian mėgti (“to like, be fond of”).[8] Barnhart and Hoad add Ancient Greek μηχανή (mēkhanḗ, “means, machine”), the source of machine, but the OED says that this link is not now generally accepted.[3][7][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

To be strong, to have power or influence: the OED's first record is the early Old English Vespasian Psalter,[8] and "have power" is taken as the primary sense.[9][7] Dictionary.com dates the Old English verb to before 900,[11] and Barnhart to perhaps 650.[3]

Semantic evolution

As a full verb meaning "be strong, prevail", the word lasted until 1628;[8] an Old English speaker could say ic mæg wel for "I am in good health".[8] As an auxiliary it first meant "be able, can", which the OED follows until 1645 and which Merriam-Webster and the Shorter Oxford call archaic.[8][12][9] The sense of possibility is already found in Old English,[9] and Etymonline notes the verb's use there as an auxiliary of prediction.[5] Johnson (1755) put permission first: "To be at liberty; to be permitted; to be allowed".[13] The phrase be that as it may is recorded from about 1275, in Laȝamon's Brut.[8] The compound maybe dates from the 15th century,[6][7] and the noun may, a possibility, is recorded from 1849.[8][9] The past tense might once had the form mought, which survives in dialect,[9][12] and in Ireland and parts of England may I never served as a strong protestation.[14]

Timeline

  • before 900 – Old English mæg, to be strong (until 1628), to be able (until 1645).[11][8]
  • before 1200 – Middle English mai, may have power, may.[3]
  • c. 1275 – be that as it may.[8]
  • before 1350 – with a cognate object such as might, to have power (obsolete by 1508).[8]
  • 1849 – noun, a possibility.[8]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To have permission to: Guests may park behind the hotel.[2][15][12]
  2. Used to express possibility: The bridge may close tonight.[2][15][11]
  3. Used to express a wish: May you both stay well.[2][15]
  4. Used to express purpose, result or contingency, in clauses with that or so that: She speaks slowly so that the class may follow.[2][15][11]
  5. (archaic) To be able to; can.[12][9]
  6. (obsolete, Old English–1628) To be strong; to have power.[8][12][9]

Noun

  1. An instance of what the verb expresses; a possibility.[8][9]

Word family

  • maybe
  • mayhap
  • mayhappen
  • mayn't
  • devil-may-care
  • what-you-may-call-it

may2 kinswoman, maiden

Confidence
Disputed
Formation
Inherited
First attested
c. 1175 Ormulum
Inherited from
Old English mæg via Middle English

Etymology

The noun meaning maiden is inherited from Middle English mai,[4] and Merriam-Webster, Collins and Klein take it as inherited from Old English mǣg (“kinswoman, woman”),[12][15][16] a feminine related to the masculine noun of the same form, meaning kinsman.[8][12] The OED instead thinks it perhaps a borrowing from early Scandinavian, comparing Old Norse mær (“maid”), genitive meyjar, and Gothic 𐌼𐌰𐍅𐌹 (mawi, “girl”), a feminine from the base of Gothic 𐌼𐌰𐌲𐌿𐍃 (magus, “boy”).[8][9] It accepts the Old English origin as the alternative, and suggests that the Old English and Old Norse words may have coalesced in Middle English;[8] the Shorter Oxford likewise has the Old English noun reinforced or replaced by the Norse forms.[9] The Old English masculine goes back to Proto-Germanic *mēgaz, whose cognates mean relative or son-in-law.[17][18]

Earliest recorded meaning

A maiden, a young woman: about 1175, in the Ormulum.[8] The feminine mǣg, found only in Old English verse, already meant a woman in general, and in Genesis A it is used of Eve;[8] Merriam-Webster dates the word to before the 12th century.[12]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English mai could mean a woman, especially a young and attractive one, a virgin, a girl or a maidservant.[4] Chaucer used it three times and Gower seven.[19] It then became a word of verse and archaic style,[9][12] but it stayed in regional speech in Scotland, Ireland and Cumberland, where Wright's dialect dictionary records it in ballads and poems of the 19th century.[14][8]

Timeline

  • c. 1175 – a maiden, a virgin, a young woman.[8]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (archaic) A maiden or young woman.[12][9][8]

Usage notes

A further may, hawthorn blossom or the hawthorn itself, comes from the month May, when the tree flowers.[2][6][15] The OED records it from about 1450,[8] and Ayto, Hoad and Collins date it to the 16th century.[6][7][15]

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ a b c Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
  5. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  6. ^ a b c d e Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
  7. ^ a b c d e f g Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  10. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  11. ^ a b c d Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  12. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  13. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  14. ^ a b Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
  15. ^ a b c d e f g Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  16. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  17. ^ Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
  18. ^ Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill
  19. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“May.” Etymologically, 5 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/en/may. Accessed 5 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·