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# maya

«maya» in Mova's school dictionary: **A people of Central America (southern Mexico, Guatemala…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

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

### meaning for a pupil

1) A people of Central America (southern Mexico, Guatemala, Belize and nearby) whose ancient civilisation built stone cities and pyramids. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/maya/#m1)

2) One of the Mayan languages. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/maya/#m2)

3) A girl's name. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/maya/#m3)

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

### In the corpora

- [Maya in Denver called a girl «four-eyes» because her friends laughed.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/346-teasing-and-laughing-at-others/1/)
- [Maya's friend Josh copied the way a boy talks with his stammer, and everyone laughed.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/346-teasing-and-laughing-at-others/5/)
- [Maya promised to feed the cat while Mum was at work and forgot.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/358-promises-to-little-brothers-gran-dad-and-the-cat/5/)
- [Twins Mia and Maya in Toronto swapped hoodies to confuse the teacher.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/432-it-was-him-siblings-blaming-each-other/21/)
- [Maya's friend, upset after a row, said she would run away that night and asked Maya to say nothing.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/437-when-not-to-keep-a-friends-secret/11/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «maya» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/maya/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.