DICT.TW Dictionary Taiwan

 ma·ya /ˈmɑjə, ˈmaɪə/
 馬雅人,馬亞語(a.)馬雅人的,馬雅語的

 Ma·ya n.
 1. Hindu Philos. The name (in Vedantic philosphy) for the doctrine of the unreality of matter, called, in English, idealism; hence, nothingness; vanity; illusion.

 Ma·ya prop. n.; pl. Maya or Mayas.
 1. the Indian people occupying the area of Veracruz, Chiapas, Tabasco, Campeche, and Yucatan, together with a part of Guatemala and a part of Salvador.  The Maya peoples are dark, short, and brachycephalic, and at the time of the discovery had attained a higher grade of culture than any other American people.  They cultivated a variety of crops, were expert in the manufacture and dyeing of cotton fabrics, used cacao as a medium of exchange, and were workers of gold, silver, and copper.  Their architecture comprised elaborately carved temples and palaces, and they possessed a superior calendar, and a developed system of hieroglyphic writing, with records said to go back to about 700 a. d.
 2. the language of the Mayas.
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 Maya
      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]
      2: an ethnic minority speaking Mayan languages and living in
         Yucatan and adjacent areas
      3: a family of American Indian languages spoken by Mayan
         peoples [syn: Mayan, Mayan language]