Basic Details
Word: Mayor
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: The elected head of a city or town council.
Synonyms: city head, civic head
Sounds like: mare (a female horse)
Word origin: Comes from Latin maior, 'greater'.
How to Spell Mayor
Syllables: may - or
Tricky part: The ending is or, not er, and the y stays in the middle even though it is hardly heard.
Watch out for: mayour, meyor, mayar
Memory tip: The mayor may order things done: may + or.
Usage Examples
Example 1: The mayor opened the new public library in our ward.
Example 2: Kolkata's mayor led the Durga Puja cleanliness drive.
Example 3: Our class wrote a letter to the mayor asking for a zebra crossing near the school gate.
Fun Fact
Mayor and major come from the same Latin word, maior, meaning greater. The mayor was the greater, or chief, official of a town.
Practise the CREST Way
Spell-o-Spell
Only one word in the list is spelt correctly. Choose the meaning of that word.
1. ministar 2. senater 3. citizan 4. mayor
a) a member of the government in charge of a department
b) a member of a senate
c) the elected head of a city council
d) a person who legally belongs to a country
Show answer
c) the elected head of a city council. Minister, senator and citizen end in er, or and en; the list gets each of those endings wrong, but not mayor.
Mingle-Mangle
Unjumble the word in the sentence and choose it:
The oyram of Pune cut the ribbon to open the new flyover.
a) mayor
b) mayhem
c) major
d) manor
Show answer
a) mayor. Pune's city head is its mayor; major comes close, but there is no j in the jumble.
Word Cookie
Find the misspelt word in the sentence:
The mayour promised that every ward in the city would get clean drinking water and working streetlights before the monsoon.
a) promised
b) monsoon
c) streetlights
d) mayour
Show answer
d) mayour. The town chief ends in a plain or, with no u: may-or.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. Which word comes from the same Latin root as mayor?
a) mayonnaise
b) mayfly
c) marine
d) major
Show answer
d) major
2. A mayor is in charge of ____.
a) a school class
b) a city council
c) a ship's crew
d) an army regiment
Show answer
b) a city council
