yucatec

yucatec — noun

1. a person from a Maya people living mainly in Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula

1.nounC2
Definition

a person from a Maya people living mainly in Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula

Example

Lucia met a Yucatec guide who explained the old stone carvings.

a Yucatec + noun for one member of the group

At the market, a Yucatec woman sold honey and woven bags.

Common collocations
  • Yucatec guide
  • Yucatec family
  • Yucatec farmer
  • be Yucatec
Synonyms
  • Yucatec Maya

    fuller and more exact when you want to distinguish this people from other Maya groups

Grammar Patterns

a + Yucatec + noun

be + Yucatec

Usage Note

Often used before another noun, as in 'Yucatec guide' or 'Yucatec family', or after be to identify a person's ethnic background. In cultural or academic writing, 'Yucatec Maya' is common when you need to distinguish this group from other Maya peoples.

2. the Maya language spoken by Yucatec people, especially in the Yucatán Peninsula

2.nounC2
Definition

the Maya language spoken by Yucatec people, especially in the Yucatán Peninsula

Example

Liam recorded his grandmother telling a story in Yucatec.

in Yucatec for the language being used

The museum label appears in Spanish, English, and Yucatec.

Common collocations
  • speak Yucatec
  • learn Yucatec
  • in Yucatec
  • translate into Yucatec
Synonyms
  • Yucatec Maya

    the fuller name used when distinguishing this language from other Maya languages

Grammar Patterns

speak/learn + Yucatec

in Yucatec

translate into Yucatec

Usage Note

Usually follows verbs like speak, learn, write, and translate into. The fuller name 'Yucatec Maya' is common in linguistics and education when it is important to separate this language from other Maya languages.

Common Mistakes

She speaks Yucatecs at home.
She speaks Yucatec at home.
the language name is uncountable and has no plural form.
The notice was written on Yucatec.
The notice was written in Yucatec.
use 'in' for the language used in speech or writing.

Word family

  • Yucatán
    nounC1
  • Maya
    nounB2
  • Yucatec Maya
    nounC2

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

'Yucatec' can name either a person from this Maya group or the language spoken by that group, so the grammar around it matters. 'Yucatec Maya' is a fuller term that helps when you need to separate this people or language from other Maya groups. 'Maya' is broader and can refer to many different peoples and languages across Mexico and Central America, not only this one. 'Yucatán' names the region, not the people or their language.

Yucatec ↗Yucatec MayaMaya ↗Yucatán

Common collocations

Nouns

Phrases

  • be Yucatec
  • speak Yucatec
  • in Yucatec
  • translate into Yucatec

Prepositions

Etymology

SpanishEnglish

Yucatec entered English in the 19th century from Spanish yucateco, a word built on Yucatán. In English it came to name both the Indigenous people of that region and the Maya language associated with them.

First known use

1843

1843, in the meaning defined at sense 1