[ma.ya] n [Skt maya] (1788): the sense-world of manifold phenomena held in Vedanta to conceal the unity of absolute being; broadly: illusion Ma.ya n, pl Maya or Mayas [Sp] (1825) 1 a: a Mayan language of the ancient Maya peoples recorded in inscriptions b: yucatec; esp: the older form of that language known from documents of the Spanish period
2: a member of a group of Indian peoples chiefly of Yucatan, Belize, and Guatemala whose languages are Mayan