Excuse me, may I ask...?

can / may / possible / able to / not bad / pretty good

how (wonderful etc) / what (a great idea etc) / however (difficult it may be etc) / (in interrogative sentences) how (much etc) / to what extent

to dare / daring / (polite) may I venture

period of time (may be months, or mere seconds) / spare time / skill / labor / effort

the not-very-distant past / modern times, excluding recent decades / (in the context of Chinese history) the period from the Opium Wars until the May 4th Movement (mid-19th century to 1919) / capitalist times (pre-1949)

(prefix) can; may; able to; -able / to approve; to permit / to suit / (particle used for emphasis) certainly; very

that's fine / may as well / (reduplicated) regardless of whether ... or ...

(bound form) wish; hope; desire / to be willing / to wish (that sth may happen); may ... / vow; pledge

apartment building; block of flats (may be a public housing block or a condominium etc) (CL:套)

plait / braid / pigtail / a mistake or shortcoming that may be exploited by an opponent / handle / CL: 根, 條｜条

to urge (an activity that may be beneficial, harmful or neutral); to encourage; to agitate; to instigate; to incite / to beat; to flap (wings, a fan etc)

(old) third person singular pronoun ("he" or "she") / second person singular pronoun ("you") / (May 4th period) third person singular feminine pronoun ("she") / (Classical Chinese) introductory particle with no specific meaning / that (preceding a noun)

5th earthly branch: 7-9 a.m., 3rd solar month (5th April-4th May), year of the Dragon / ancient Chinese compass point: 120°

May / fifth month (of the lunar year)

sentence-final particle that conveys informality, warmth, friendliness or intimacy / may also indicate that one is stating a fact that the other person is not aware of

5-1 (May 1st)

Guyu or Grain Rain, 6th of the 24 solar terms 二十四節氣｜二十四节气 20th April-4th May

cannot maintain (sth) / unable to keep / more likely than not / may well

fourth of May, cf 五四運動｜五四运动, national renewal movement that started with 4th May 1919 protest against the Treaty of Versailles

(bound form) may; can / (bound form) to endure; to bear / (in 堪輿｜堪舆) heaven (contrasted with earth 輿｜舆)

transliteration (rendering phonetic value, e.g. of English words in Chinese characters) / characters giving phonetic value of Chinese word or name (when the correct characters may be unknown) / transcription (linguistics) / to transcribe phonetic symbols

to take a lot of trouble (over sb or sth) / may I trouble you (to do sth)

not necessarily / may not turn out to be / maybe not

it may be assumed that

(old) to stand up (after kowtowing) / You may rise.

Lixia or Start of Summer, 7th of the 24 solar terms 二十四節氣｜二十四节气 5th-20th May

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (American media company)

Xiaoman or Lesser Full Grain, 8th of the 24 solar terms 二十四節氣｜二十四节气 21st May-5th June

lit. an old steed in the stable still aspires to gallop 1000 miles (idiom); fig. old people may still cherish high aspirations

Live as long as the Zhongnan Mountains! (idiom) / Long may you live!

the sparrow may be small but all its vital organs are there (idiom) / small but complete in every detail

what is your surname? / (May I ask) your surname?

(formal) you may dispense with curtseying

Amitabha Buddha / the Buddha of the Western paradise / may the lord Buddha preserve us! / merciful Buddha!

may I offer a bit of advice

6th earthly branch: 9-11 a.m., 4th solar month (5th May-5th June), year of the Snake / ancient Chinese compass point: 150°

(in elections for village committees in the PRC since the 1990s) unrestricted nomination, a type of election where 1. everyone in the community is eligible to nominate somebody 2. voting is done by writing the name of one's nominee on the ballot, and 3. one's nominee can be anyone in the community (Nominees who receive the highest number of votes may be thereby elected or, more often, presented as the candidates in a further round of voting.) / (in other contexts) selection of the best contender in a process open to all comers / (in the entertainment industry) open audition

to spend effort / to take trouble / May I trouble you to...? (as part of polite request) / Please would you mind...?

may your happiness be as immense as the East Sea (idiom)

in Daoism, astral wind on which immortals may ride / strong wind

to die without progeny / (offensive) may you die childless / may you be the last of your family line

lit. an ant hole may cause the collapse of a great dike (idiom) / fig. huge damage may result from a moment's negligence

(idiom) great intelligence may appear to be stupidity

lit. lotus roots may break, but the fiber remains joined (idiom); lovers part, but still long for one another

Trouble issues from the mouth (idiom). A loose tongue may cause a lot of trouble.

(honorific) May I ask?

abbr. for 五卅運動｜五卅运动, The May Thirtieth Movement (1925)

may you enjoy boundless longevity (idiom) / long may you live

return what you borrowed on time, you may borrow again next time (idiom)

school for cadres / May 7 Cadre School 五七幹校｜五七干校

(colloquial) whatever / come what may

much hardships may awaken a nation (idiom); calamity that prompts renewal

a reading of a written Chinese word derived from a synonym (typically, a vernacular synonym) (e.g. in Mandarin, 投子 may be pronounced as its synonym 色子, and in Wu dialects, 二 is pronounced as its synonym 兩｜两 "liahn") / to pronounce a word using such a reading / (Japanese linguistics) kun-reading, a pronunciation of a kanji derived from a native Japanese word that matches its meaning rather than from the pronunciation of the character in a Sinitic language at the time it was imported from China (Note: A kun-reading of a character is distinguished from its on-reading(s) 音讀｜音读. For example, 山 has a kun-reading "yama" and an on-reading "san".)

a thousand tries leads to one success (idiom, humble expr.); Even without any notable ability on my part, I may still get it right sometimes by good luck.

may I ask

lit. don't sit under the eaves (where tiles may fall from the roof) (idiom); fig. keep out of danger

the wise may appear stupid (idiom); a genius not appreciated in his own time

must not / may not / not to be allowed / cannot

to have all one's wishes (idiom) / best wishes / all the best / may all your hopes be fulfilled

it may be said

bamboos placed across wooden frames on which grain may be stored in damp climates

a wrong repeated becomes right (idiom); a lie or an error passed on for a long time may be taken for the truth

may not

Book of Music, said to be one of the Six Classics lost after Qin's burning of the books in 212 BC, but may simply refer to Book of Songs 詩經｜诗经

first bouillon, a broth made with ingredients that may later be reboiled to make a second bouillon 二湯｜二汤

Han dynasty name for countries in far West / may refer to Silk Road states or Alexandria or the Roman empire

may you live a long and happy life together (wedding greeting)

auxiliary verb introducing future action: may (be able to) / will (cause) / should (enable) / going to

lit. an old cow eats young grass (idiom) / fig. a May-December relationship / a romance where the man is significantly older than the woman

lit. even a scrawny camel is bigger than a horse (idiom) / fig. even after suffering a loss, a rich person is still better off than ordinary people / a cultured person may come down in the world, but he is still superior to the common people

May

International Labor Day (May Day)

(neologism c. 2009) wife of a gay man (the man may marry to conform with social expectations, and the woman often enters the marriage not knowing he is gay)

a great hero may appear timid, the wise may appear stupid (idiom); the general public may not recognize great talent

fortune as unpredictable as the weather, every day may bring fortune or calamity (idiom); sth unexpected may happen at any moment

lit. for some things a foot may be too short, and for the other an inch will suffice (proverb) / fig. everyone has their strong and weak points / everything has its advantages and disadvantages

lit. (may you) have abundance year after year / (an auspicious saying for the Lunar New Year)

will perhaps / may (in the future)

(idiom) even though a person may have shortcomings, there is still room for improvement

fig. a tree may grow a thousand zhang high, but its leaves return to their roots (proverb) / fig. everything has its ancestral home / in old age, an expatriate returns home

Although the peony is beautiful, it depends entirely on help from the green leaves (idiom). However brilliant you may be, you can't do anything without support from others.

backscratcher (made from bamboo etc) / (may also refer to other products that are of benefit to old people, such as padded cloth shoes, mobility tricycle etc)

Help others, and others may help you (idiom).

lit. either don't do it, or don't rest (idiom) / fig. if you do it at all, you may as well go the whole hog / in for a penny, in for a pound

a single slip may cause everlasting sorrow (idiom)

no matter what may happen (idiom)

can still be considered (to be...) / may after all be accepted as

don't fight, won't make friends (idiom); an exchange of blows may lead to friendship

lit. don't fight, won't make friends (idiom); an exchange of blows may lead to friendship / no discord, no concord

May 7 cadre school (farm where urban cadres had to undertake manual labor and study ideology during the Cultural Revolution) (abbr. for 五七幹部學校｜五七干部学校)

May 7 Cadre School (farm where urban cadres had to undertake manual labor and study ideology during the Cultural Revolution) (abbr. to 五七幹校｜五七干校)

anti-imperialist movement of 30th May 1925, involving general strike esp. in Shanghai, Guangzhou, Hong Kong etc

May Fourth Movement / Chinese national renewal movement that started with 4th May 1919 protest against the Treaty of Versailles

May Fourth Movement / Chinese national renewal movement that started with 4th May 1919 protest against the Treaty of Versailles

lit. (may the) five blessings descend upon this home (namely: longevity, wealth, health, virtue, and a natural death) / (an auspicious saying for the Lunar New Year)

only the official is allowed to light the fire / Gods may do what cattle may not / quod licet Iovi, non licet bovi

may be done once and once only; just this once

business is auspicious / conventional greeting at the foot of a letter: May your business go well!

joy depresses one's qi vital breath / an excess of joy may lead to sluggishness of vital energy (TCM)