may

名词 n. 动词 v.
发音

英文释义

名词 n.
  1. The hawthorn bush or its blossoms. uncountable
    — The fire from Lindfield was coming down the grassy hillside to the right between the hedges of may.
  2. A maiden. archaic
动词 v.
  1. To be strong; to have power (over). intransitive,no-past-participle,no-present-participle,obsolete
  2. To gather may, or flowers in general. intransitive,poetic
    — Soo it befelle in the moneth of May / quene Gueneuer called vnto her knyȝtes of the table round / and she gafe them warnynge that erly vpon the morowe she wold ryde on mayeng in to woodes & feldes besyde westmynstre. "So it befell in the month of May, Queen Guenever called unto her knights of the Table Round; and she gave them warning that early upon the morrow she would ride a-Maying into woods and fields beside Westminster."
  3. To be able; can. auxiliary,no-past-participle,no-present-participle,obsolete
    — But many times[…]we give way to passions we may resist and will not.
  4. To celebrate May Day. intransitive,poetic
  5. To be able to go. intransitive,no-past-participle,no-present-participle,poetic
    — O weary night, O long and tedious night, Abate thy houres, shine comforts from the East, That I may backe to Athens by day-light […].
  6. To have permission to, be allowed. Used in granting permission and in questions to make polite requests. auxiliary,defective,modal,no-past-participle,no-present-participle
    — you may smoke outside
  7. Granting the admissibility of a supposition, in a way that can be semantically either subjunctive or indicative.; Expressing a present possibility; possibly. auxiliary,defective,modal,no-past-participle,no-present-participle
    — he may be lying
  8. Granting the admissibility of a supposition, in a way that can be semantically either subjunctive or indicative.; Expressing a disjunctive or contrastive relation between indicative statements. auxiliary,defective,modal,no-past-participle,no-present-participle
    — You may be my boss, but that doesn't mean you can insult me.
  9. Expressing a wish (with present subjunctive effect). defective,no-past-participle,no-present-participle,poetic,present
    — may you win;  may the weather be sunny;  long may your reign last
  10. Used in modesty, courtesy, or concession, or to soften a question or remark. auxiliary,defective,modal,no-past-participle,no-present-participle
    — How old may Phillis be, you ask, / Whose Beauty thus all Hearts engages.

词形变化

may present,singular,third-person might past maye alternative mays present,singular,third-person maying participle,present mayed participle,past mayed past mays plural

词汇关系

衍生词

词源

词源 1
From Middle English mowen, mayen, moȝen, maȝen, from Old English magan, from Proto-West Germanic *magan, from Proto-Germanic *maganą, from Proto-Indo-European *megʰ-.
Cognate with Dutch mag (“may”, first- and third-person singular of mogen (“to be able to, be allowed to, may”)), Low German mögen, German mag (“like”, first- and third-person singular of mögen (“to like, want, require”)), Swedish må, Icelandic mega, megum. See also might.
词源 2
From French mai, so called because it blossoms in the month of May.
词源 3
From Middle English may, maye (“woman, maid, girl, virgin”), from Old English mǣġ (“kinswoman”), from Proto-West Germanic *māg, from Proto-Germanic *mēgaz (“kinsman”). Related to Old English māge, mǣġe (“kinswoman”) and Old English mǣġ (“kinsman”).
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