Adjacent Words

Maya definitions

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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a member of an American Indian people of Yucatan and Belize and Guatemala who had a culture (which reached its peak between AD 300 and 900) characterized by outstanding architecture and pottery and astronomy; "Mayans had a system of writing and an accurate calendar" [syn: Mayan, Maya]
2: a family of American Indian languages spoken by Maya [syn: Maya, Mayan, Mayan language]

Merriam Webster's

noun Etymology: Sanskrit m?y? Date: 1788 the sense-world of manifold phenomena held in Vedanta to conceal the unity of absolute being; broadly illusion

Merriam Webster's

noun (plural Maya or Mayas) Etymology: Spanish Date: 1825 1. a. a Mayan language of the ancient Maya peoples recorded in inscriptions b. Yucatec; especially the older form of that language known from documents of the Spanish period 2. a member of a group of Indian peoples chiefly of Yucatán, Belize, and Guatemala whose languages are Mayan

Britannica Concise

In Hinduism, a powerful force that creates the cosmic illusion that the phenomenal world is real. The word maya originally referred to the wizardry with which a god can make human beings believe in what turns out to be an illusion, and its philosophical sense is an extension of this meaning. The concept is especially important in the Advaita school of the orthodox system of Vedanta, which sees maya as the cosmic force that presents the infinite Brahman as the finite phenomenal world. Group of Mesoamerican Indians who between AD 250 and 900 developed one of the Western Hemisphere's greatest civilizations. By AD 200 they had developed cities containing palaces, temples, plazas, and ball courts. They used stone tools to quarry the immense quantities of stone needed for those structures; their sculpture and relief carving were also highly developed. Mayan hieroglyphic writing survives in books and inscriptions. Mayan mathematics featured positional notation and the use of the zero; Mayan astronomy featured an accurately determined solar year and precise tables of the positions of Venus and the moon. Calendrical accuracy was important for the elaborate rituals and ceremonies of the Mayan religion, which was based on a pantheon of gods. Ritual bloodletting, torture, and human sacrifice were employed to propitiate the gods, ensure fertility, and stave off cosmic chaos. At the height of its Classic period, Mayan civilization included more than 40 cities of 5,000-50,000 people. After 900 the civilization declined rapidly for unknown reasons. Descendants of the Maya are now subsistence farmers in S Mexico and Guatemala. See also Chiché n Itzá , Copá n, Lacandon, Maya codices, Mayan languages, Quiche, Tikal, Tzeltal, Tzotzil, Uxmal. In Hinduism, a powerful force that creates the cosmic illusion that the phenomenal world is real. The word maya originally referred to the wizardry with which a god can make human beings believe in what turns out to be an illusion, and its philosophical sense is an extension of this meaning. The concept is especially important in the Advaita school of the orthodox system of Vedanta, which sees maya as the cosmic force that presents the infinite Brahman as the finite phenomenal world. Group of Mesoamerican Indians who between AD 250 and 900 developed one of the Western Hemisphere's greatest civilizations. By AD 200 they had developed cities containing palaces, temples, plazas, and ball courts. They used stone tools to quarry the immense quantities of stone needed for those structures; their sculpture and relief carving were also highly developed. Mayan hieroglyphic writing survives in books and inscriptions. Mayan mathematics featured positional notation and the use of the zero; Mayan astronomy featured an accurately determined solar year and precise tables of the positions of Venus and the moon. Calendrical accuracy was important for the elaborate rituals and ceremonies of the Mayan religion, which was based on a pantheon of gods. Ritual bloodletting, torture, and human sacrifice were employed to propitiate the gods, ensure fertility, and stave off cosmic chaos. At the height of its Classic period, Mayan civilization included more than 40 cities of 5,000-50,000 people. After 900 the civilization declined rapidly for unknown reasons. Descendants of the Maya are now subsistence farmers in S Mexico and Guatemala. See also Chiché n Itzá , Copá n, Lacandon, Maya codices, Mayan languages, Quiche, Tikal, Tzeltal, Tzotzil, Uxmal.

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. 1 (pl. same or Mayas) a member of an ancient Indian people of Central America. 2 the language of this people. Derivatives: Mayan adj. & n. Etymology: native name

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. Hinduism a marvel or illusion, esp. in the phenomenal universe. Etymology: Skr. maya

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Maya Ma"ya (m[aum]"y[aum]), n. (Hindoo Philos.) The name for the doctrine of the unreality of matter, called, in English, idealism; hence, nothingness; vanity; illusion.