maybe

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈmeɪ.bi/^[1]

Etymology

It is Middle English may be, a shortening of the phrase it may be (that),^[2][3][4][5] from may and be.^[2][6] It corresponds to the archaic mayhap, from it may hap “it may happen”.^[7][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

“Perhaps, possibly”: before 1400, in a version of Cursor Mundi;^[7][8] Etymonline gives the early 15th century.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It was still sometimes written as two words in the early 19th century.^[2] The noun, “something that may be or happen”, is dated to the 1580s by Etymonline^[2] and to 1598 by the HTOED,^[8] and the Shorter Oxford now calls it rare.^[5] An adjective meaning “possible” is recorded from 1687.^[8] The colloquial and dialect form mebbe is also found.^[5]

Timeline

• before 1400 – adverb (Cursor Mundi).^[7]
• 1444 – mayhap (Paston Letters).^[7]
• 1580s – noun, a possibility.^[2]
• 1687 – adjective, possible.^[8]
• early 19th century – still sometimes two words.^[2]

Modern meaning

Adverb

1. Perhaps; possibly.

Noun

1. An uncertainty; a possibility.
2. An uncertain or noncommittal reply.

Related words

• may
• be
• mayhap
• perhaps

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
4. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
8. ^ a b c d Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)