VocabauraVOCABAURA

mayo

noun

Simple meaning

A people indigenous to Mexico, living mainly in the northern states of Sonora and Sinaloa.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

mayoh

Say the bold part a little louder.

US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈmeɪoʊ

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

  1. A people indigenous to Mexico, living mainly in the northern states of Sonora and Sinaloa.

  2. A townland in County Down, Northern Ireland.

  3. A Uto-Aztecan language spoken by the Mono people of northern Mexico.

  4. A dressing made from vegetable oil, raw egg yolks, vinegar or lemon juice, and seasoning, used on salads, with french fries, in sandwiches etc.

  5. Australiainformal

    Exaggeration.

  6. A town in southwest Ivory Coast.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
B1 · Intermediate (estimated)
Frequency
Moderately Common
Typical Use
Neutral / general English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: A townland in County Down, Northern Ireland.

Used this way, mayo is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
Matter-of-fact
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use mayo

  • “Please put just a little bit of mayo on my sandwich.”

Share your sentence

Write your own example sentence using “mayo”. We review each one before it appears.

Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

lord mayomayo foundationmiss mayoadmiral mayomayo rivermayo stand

Tap the highlighted word to open its own entry.

Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • cinco de mayonounCompound term

    The fifth of May which is observed in Mexico and Mexican-American communities in the United States to commemorate the Mexican victory over the French in the Battle of Puebla in 1862.

Related words

Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.

  • mayoraladjectiveRelated term

    Of or relating to a mayor or the office of mayor.

  • ex-mayornounRelated term

    A former mayor.

Ask Vocabaura

Understand the word your way.

What Does It Mean Here?

Words can change meaning depending on context.

Use it yourself

Knowing “mayo” starts when you use it. Pick a next step, all free.

Know the meaning? Practice using it in a real situation, free, no credits.

Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.