2  definitions  found 
 
  From  Webster's  Revised  Unabridged  Dictionary  (1913)  [web1913]: 
 
  Mayan  \Ma"yan\,  a. 
  1.  Designating,  or  pertaining  to  an  American  Indian 
  linguistic  stock  occupying  the  Mexican  States  of  Veracruz, 
  Chiapas  Tabasco,  Campeche  and  Yucatan,  together  with  a 
  part  of  Guatemala  and  a  part  of  Salvador.  The  Mayan 
  peoples  are  dark,  short,  and  brachycephallic,  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  places,  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.  Of  or  pertaining  to  the  Mayas. 
 
  From  WordNet  r  1.6  [wn]: 
 
  Mayan 
  n  1:  a  member  of  an  American  Indian  people  of  Yucatan  and  Belize 
  and  Guatemala  who  once  had  a  culture  characterized  by 
  outstanding  architecture  and  pottery  and  astronomy  [syn: 
  {Mayan},  {Maya}] 
  2:  a  family  of  American  Indian  languages  spoken  by  Mayan 
  peoples  [syn:  {Maya},  {Mayan},  {Mayan  language}] 

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