Mayor

How to spell mayor

5 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce mayor

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does mayor mean?

1. nounThe elected head of the government of a town or city.

Mayor in a sentence

• The mayor cut the ribbon to open the new library.

• Residents petitioned the mayor to repair the flooded road.

Where does mayor come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word comes from the Latin maior, meaning 'greater' or 'larger', which is the comparative form of magnus, 'great' or 'big'. In late Latin and the early Romance languages maior came to mean a chief or senior official, and English took it through Old French maire in the late 1100s and 1200s, originally as the title for the leading citizen and elected head of a town. The same maior root sits behind the everyday word 'major', which still carries the literal sense of 'greater', and that family link is a useful reminder that mayor keeps the -or spelling rather than an -er one. The slightly awkward 'ayo' cluster survives because English preserved the French spelling while shifting the pronunciation over the centuries. That gap between how the word looks and how many people say it is exactly what makes the spelling worth practising.

How the word is built

• may- (from Latin maior: greater)
• -or (agent/noun suffix)