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# maya

noun (the Maya, Mayas); adjective (Maya, Mayan); also a girl's name (Maya)

«maya» in the English dictionary: everyday — its meanings, how the lessons use it, and examples, each with its tree on Mova.

## Everyday

1. A people of Central America (southern Mexico, Guatemala, Belize and nearby) whose ancient civilisation built stone cities and pyramids. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/maya/#m1)
2. One of the Mayan languages. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/maya/#m2)
3. A girl's name. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/maya/#m3)

### In the lessons

In history lessons, the ancient Maya civilisation is studied: they built step pyramids and cities like Chichen Itza and Tikal, had a writing system with glyphs, used a calendar and counted in base 20 with a symbol for zero, and grew maize (corn) and cacao for chocolate. Maya people still live there today and speak Mayan languages. Phrases: «the ancient Maya», «Maya civilisation», «Maya temple».

### Examples

- The ancient Maya built tall stone pyramids. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/maya/#x1)
- The Maya counted in twenties, not tens. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/maya/#x2)
- The Maya were among the first people to use a sign for zero. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/maya/#x3)
- Chocolate drinks were important to the Maya. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/maya/#x4)
- We made Maya number glyphs with dots and bars. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/maya/#x5)
- Millions of Maya people still live in Mexico and Guatemala today. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/maya/#x6)
- Maya is in my class and sits next to me. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/maya/#x7)
- Maya writing used picture-like symbols called glyphs. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/maya/#x8)

### Note

Written with a capital: «Maya» (the input is lower case only by list format). Scholars often say «Maya» for the people and culture and «Mayan» for the languages. Myth: the Maya did not predict the end of the world; their calendar simply started a new cycle. In Maya numbers, a dot is 1, a bar is 5, and a shell is 0.

## On Mova

- [Trees and pragmatics of «maya» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/maya/): every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.
- [«maya» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/maya.html) on Mova free.