Etymology

mayor

may·or
M3A1Y4O1R1

Today it means: The chief executive of the municipal government of a city, borough, etc., formerly (historical) usually appointed as a caretaker by European royal courts but now usually appointed or elected locally. Full definition →

Middle English maire ← Old French maire ← Latin maior
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mayor · noun1

  1. Proto-Indo-European*méǵh₂s
  2. Proto-Indo-European*méǵyōs
  3. Proto-Italic*majjōs
  4. Latinmaior
  5. Old Frenchmaire
  6. Middle Englishmaire
  7. English todaymayor

From Middle English maire, from Old French maire (“head of a city or town government”), a substantivation of Old French maire (“greater”), from Latin maior (“bigger, greater, superior”), comparative of magnus (“big, great”). Doublet of major. Cognate with Old High German meior (“estate manager, steward, bailiff”) (modern German Meier), Middle Dutch meier (“administrator, steward, bailiff”) (modern Dutch meier). Displaced Old English burgealdor (“a ruler of a city, mayor, citizen”), burhġerēfa (“boroughreeve”), and portġerēfa (“portreeve”).

Mayor · proper noun2

* As an English surname, variant of Mayer. * As a Spanish surname, from the adjective mayor (“older, elder”). * Also as a Spanish surname, from the archaic noun major (“mayor, chief”), itself related to the above. * As a Jewish surname, variant of Meyer.

Words from the same roots

Latinmaior all →

majormajorityMallorcamajordomoMickleoverforce majeuremajoratemajoration

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.