mayday
mayday Lexical Profile
mayday Game Scores & Validity
• interjection
Used as an international radio distress call by ships and aircraft to signal grave and imminent danger and request immediate assistance (typically repeated three times).
""Mayday, mayday, mayday!" the pilot transmitted over the emergency frequency after the engine failed."
• noun
An international radio distress signal used especially by ships and aircraft in grave and imminent danger.
"The coast guard immediately launched a rescue helicopter after picking up a mayday from the fishing trawler."
Word Nuance & Usage
Do not confuse the solid word 'mayday' (an international radio distress call) with the two-word capitalized proper noun 'May Day' (the traditional spring festival or International Workers' Day observed on May 1). In standard maritime and aviation protocols, 'mayday' is repeated three times at the start of a broadcast to indicate grave and imminent danger to life, whereas 'pan-pan' is used for urgent situations that are not immediately life-threatening.
• Rhymes for mayday
Word Origin & Etymology
Coined in 1923 by Frederick Stanley Mockford, a senior radio officer at Croydon Airport in London, as an anglicized phonetic spelling of the French phrase 'm'aider' (short for 'venez m'aider', meaning 'come help me').