Mayan

American  

[mah-yuhn] / ˈmɑ yən /

adjective

1. of or relating to the Maya, their culture, or their languages.

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noun

1. a member of the Mayan tribe.

2. a group of languages spoken by the Mayas in southern Mexico, Guatemala, and Belize, including Yucatec, Quiché, and Huastec.

Mayan British  

/ ˈmaɪən /

adjective

1. of, relating to, or characteristic of the Maya or any of their languages

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noun

1. a family of Central American Indian languages, including Maya, possibly a member of the Penutian phylum

2. another name for a Maya 2

Other Word Forms

• pseudo-Mayan adjective

Etymology

Origin of Mayan

First recorded in 1885–90; May(a) + -an

Example Sentences

Why does the Mayan world remain so alien, notwithstanding the extraordinary work of Mr. Stuart and his peers?

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

When I visited its Tustin branch, a wall featured the same cheesy wood-and-metal sculpture of a Mayan lord holding a burrito I remembered during my first Chipotle visit back in 2009.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 19, 2026

From precolonial Mexico we discover obsidian mirrors used for divination in Mayan and Aztec ceremonies.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 16, 2026

To a modern eye, Mayan glyph writing is about as alien-looking as you can get.

From "Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea" by Charles Seife