Learned borrowing from Latin maiōrem.

maior m or f (plural maiores)

1. bigger, greater, major

   Antonym: menor

2. (music) major

   Antonym: menor

• meirande

• maioría

• major, maiior

From Proto-Italic *magjōs, from Proto-Indo-European *méǵh₂yōs, from *meǵh₂- (“great”) +‎ *-yōs (comparative suffix).

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈmaj.jɔr]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈmaː.jor]
• The first syllable contains a short vowel followed by a long (double) consonantal -i-. For the purpose of Latin scansion, this forms a long syllable. Although many dictionaries mark vowels in this context with a macron, the vowel itself is not long.^[1]

maior (comparative, neuter maius, superlative maximus or maxumus); third declension

1. comparative degree of magnus

   Antonym: minor

   • 63 BCE, Cicero, Catiline Orations Oratio in Catilinam Prima in Senatu Habita.10:

     […] domum meam maiōribus praesidiīs mūnīvī atque firmāvī, […].

     […] I fortified and strengthened my home with greater defenses, […].

   • 44 BCE, Cicero, De officiis:

     Quamquam Africanus maiorem laudem meo iudicio assequebatur.

     Yet, in my judgment, Africanus earned the greater praise.

Third-declension comparative adjective, with locative.

• maiestās (noun)
• maiusculus (diminutive)

maior m (genitive maiōris); third declension

1. (in the plural) ancestors, forefathers; advanced in years, the aged; the elders
   • 106 BCE – 43 BCE, Cicero, Pro Archia Poeta Oratio line 284:

     Ergo illum, qui haec fecerat, Rudinum hominem, maiores nostri in civitatem receperunt.

     Therefore Ennius, who composed these poems, although a man from Rudiae, our ancestors granted him citizenship.

   • 8 CE, Ovidius, Fasti 5.73–74:

     ‘hinc sua maiōrēs tribuisse vocābula Maiō
     tangor et aetātī cōnsuluisse suae.’

     ‘‘Because of this, the ancestors granted their name to May,
     I have come to grasp, and in regard to their own old age.’’
     (The muse Urania claims that the month of May honors the ‘‘maiōrēs’’ – ‘‘ancestors’’ or ‘‘elders’’.)

2. (Medieval Latin) A mayor (a leader of a city or town).

Third-declension noun.

• Old French: maire m
  • Middle French: maire m
    • French: maire m
  • Norman: maire m
  • → Middle English: maire
    • English: mayor

• “major”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “maior”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “maior”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner; Henry William Auden (1894), Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • the elde: maior (natu)
    
  • the majority: maior pars
    
  • (ambiguous) to exaggerate a thing: in maius ferre, in maius extollere aliquid
    
  • (ambiguous) to overestimate a thing: in maius accipere aliquid
    
  • (ambiguous) to deteriorate: a maiorum virtute desciscere, degenerare, deflectere
    
  • (ambiguous) according to the custom and tradition of my fathers: more institutoque maiorum (Mur. 1. 1)
    
  • (ambiguous) what is more important: quod maius est
    
• maior in Ramminger, Johann (16 July 2016 (last accessed)), Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700‎^[2], pre-publication website, 2005-2016
• “maior”, in William Smith, editor (1848), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, London: John Murray

• major
• majour
• majur
• maor

Latin maior.

maior (oblique singular, nominative singular maire)

1. bigger; larger
2. very large

• Frédéric Godefroy (1880–1902), “maior”, in Dictionnaire de l’ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IX^e au XV^e siècle[…], Paris: F[riedrich] Vieweg; Émile Bouillon, →OCLC.
• maiur on the Anglo-Norman On-Line Hub

• mayor (obsolete)

From Old Galician-Portuguese maior, mayor, from Latin maiōrem, from Proto-Indo-European *mag- (“great”) + *-yos (comparative suffix). Doublet of major and mor.

• Audio (Brazil):

  (file)

• Audio (Portugal (Porto)):

  (file)

• Rhymes: (Portugal, São Paulo) -ɔɾ, (Brazil) -ɔʁ
• Hyphenation: mai‧or

maior m or f (plural maiores)

1. (followed by que) comparative degree of grande; bigger, larger

   Antonym: menor

   Melancias são maiores que laranjas. ― Watermelons are bigger than oranges.

2. (preceded by a definite article) superlative degree of grande; biggest, largest

   Antonym: menor

   Júpiter é o maior planeta do Sistema Solar.

   Jupiter is the largest planet in the Solar System.

3. major, greater

   Antonym: menor

   um desafio maior ― a major challenge

4. (music) major

   Antonym: menor

5. (Brazil, informal) big, great

   Synonym: mó

   Ele é maior idiota... ― He is a big idiot

maior

1. (Brazil, informal) very, quite

   Synonyms: bem, bastante, mó

   Essa comida comida tem um gosto maior ruim. ― That food tastes very bad.

• “maior”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “maior”, in Dicionário infopédia da Lingua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Porto: Porto Editora, 2003–2026
• “maior”, in Michaelis Dicionário Brasileiro da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), São Paulo: Editora Melhoramentos, 2015–2026, →ISBN
• “maior”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

Borrowed from Russian майор (major) or German Major, from Latin maior. Doublet of major and possibly mare.

maior m (plural maiori)

1. major

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