mayor

B1 Topic:Places & Geography

US /ˈmeɪ.əɹ/ UK /ˈmɛə/ See IPA manual

Freq #1716

Meanings

1

noun
The elected leader of the government of a city or town.

The mayor opened the new public library.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

boroughmasterboroughreeveburgomasterportreevepraetor provost

Word family

Forms mayors

Derived forms mayor-choosingmayor-cornmayor-councilmayor-makingmayor-townmayoralmayoraltymayordommayoressmayorhoodmayorialmayorlet

Appears in

Phrases (1)

See all

unofficial mayor
A person who informally plays a mayor-like leadership role without holding the office.

Adjective + noun

Simplified etymology

Mayor entered English in the Middle English period and derives from the same Latin family as major, from major ‘greater’, ultimately related to magnus ‘great’.

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *méǵh₂s Proto-Indo-European *-yōs Proto-Indo-European *méǵh₂yōs Proto-Italic *magjōs Latin maior Old French mairebor. Middle English maire English mayor 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…

maire Middle English maior Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Places & Geography

External links

# mayor

**Type:** Word
**Level:** B1
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /ˈmeɪ.əɹ/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈmɛə/
**Frequency rank:** 1716

## Meanings
1. The elected leader of the government of a city or town.

## Examples
- The mayor opened the new public library.

## Synonyms
- boroughmaster
- boroughreeve
- burgomaster
- portreeve
- praetor
- provost

## Derived Forms
- mayor-choosing
- mayor-corn
- mayor-council
- mayor-making
- mayor-town
- mayoral
- mayoralty
- mayordom
- mayoress
- mayorhood
- mayorial
- mayorlet

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: maire
- Root: maior

## Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *méǵh₂s Proto-Indo-European *-yōs Proto-Indo-European *méǵh₂yōs Proto-Italic *magjōs Latin maior Old French mairebor. Middle English maire English mayor 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…

## AI Etymology
Mayor comes 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”). In present-day English it covers the elected leader of the government of a city or town. The historical chain runs through maire (Middle English), maire (Old French), and maior (Latin). Related and derived forms include mayor-choosing, mayor-corn, and mayor-council.

## Topics
- Places & Geography

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