maya

Everyday

1. A people of Central America (southern Mexico, Guatemala, Belize and nearby) whose ancient civilisation built stone cities and pyramids. tree →
2. One of the Mayan languages. tree →
3. A girl's name. tree →

In the lessons

In history lessons, the ancient Maya civilisation is studied: they built step pyramids and cities like Chichen Itza and Tikal, had a writing system with glyphs, used a calendar and counted in base 20 with a symbol for zero, and grew maize (corn) and cacao for chocolate. Maya people still live there today and speak Mayan languages. Phrases: «the ancient Maya», «Maya civilisation», «Maya temple».

Examples

• The ancient Maya built tall stone pyramids. tree →
• The Maya counted in twenties, not tens. tree →
• The Maya were among the first people to use a sign for zero. tree →
• Chocolate drinks were important to the Maya. tree →
• We made Maya number glyphs with dots and bars. tree →
• Millions of Maya people still live in Mexico and Guatemala today. tree →
• Maya is in my class and sits next to me. tree →
• Maya writing used picture-like symbols called glyphs. tree →

Note

Written with a capital: «Maya» (the input is lower case only by list format). Scholars often say «Maya» for the people and culture and «Mayan» for the languages. Myth: the Maya did not predict the end of the world; their calendar simply started a new cycle. In Maya numbers, a dot is 1, a bar is 5, and a shell is 0.