cenoteA natural pit in limestone that opens onto groundwater. The Maya of the Yucatán drew their water from cenotes.
Chichen ItzaA great Maya city of the northern Yucatán. Its great stepped pyramid is known as El Castillo.
city-stateOne self-ruling city and the villages and fields near it. In the Classic period the Maya lands held many city-states linked by trade.
Classic periodThe years from about 250 to 900, when Maya cities peaked. In these centuries Maya kingdoms raised carved stone monuments in their cities.
highlandsLand of mountains and high valleys. The Guatemalan Highlands rise to the south of the lowland plain.
lowlandsLow, mostly flat country, not far above sea level. Tikal and Chichen Itza are both in the Maya lowlands.
MayaA Native people of Guatemala, Belize and southern Mexico. Maya is a modern name for the many peoples of the region taken together.
MesoamericaThe culture area running from central Mexico to Costa Rica. The Olmec were among the earliest civilizations of Mesoamerica.
plazaA broad open space that the main buildings face. Maya cities were laid out with wide plazas.
ruinsThe broken remains of buildings from long ago. Tikal is one of the largest sites that archaeologists of the Maya study.
TikalA powerful Maya city deep in northern Guatemala. Its ruins are in Tikal National Park, a World Heritage Site since 1979.
Yucatán PeninsulaLand that divides the Gulf of Mexico from the Caribbean. It is low country made almost entirely of limestone.
Show all 36 terms (24 more)
Farming, trade and people 12
ajawThe Maya title for a lord or king. The ruler of a kingdom was called k'uhul ajaw, which means divine lord.
ballgameA sport played with a solid rubber ball in a stone court. Players could not use their hands.
cacaoA tree whose beans are ground to make cocoa. The Maya made a frothy chocolate drink.
commonerA person with no title or high rank. Maya commoners included farmers, servants and laborers.
jadeA tough green gemstone that was highly prized. The Maya carved it into ornaments and masks for kings.
maizeCorn, the chief food crop of the Maya. Farmers in southern Mexico bred it from a wild grass about 9,000 years ago.
nobleA person born into the ruling class. According to Maya histories, noble houses held the land.
obsidianGlass formed in volcanoes, used for knives and tools. Obsidian was traded over long distances in Mesoamerica.
quetzalA colorful bird of Central America's cloud forests. Guatemala pictures the quetzal on its flag and names its money after it.
reservoirA man-made pond or tank that holds a water supply. Tikal had ten reservoirs.
scribeSomeone schooled in writing who copied and kept texts. A royal scribe usually came from the royal family itself.
slash-and-burnClearing a field by cutting and burning the forest. After a few crops the field is left to rest for years.
Writing, numbers and buildings 12
astronomerAn expert on the movements of the Sun, Moon and planets. Maya astronomers worked without telescopes.
bark paperWriting material made from a wild fig tree. The Maya made it from the inner bark and wrote their folding books on it.
base twentyA way of counting in groups of 20 and not 10. A number above nineteen was written in stacked levels that count by twenties.
calendarA way of dividing time into days, months and years. The Maya ran a 260-day count and a 365-day count side by side.
codexA Maya book of bark paper folded like a screen. Most were destroyed after the Spanish conquest, and only a few survive.
glyphOne symbol of a writing system, cut in stone or painted. Maya writing mixed signs for whole words with signs for syllables.
palaceThe large home of a ruler and the royal court. The palace at Palenque has a tower.
pyramidA tall stone platform with stairs up its sloping sides. Maya pyramids have flat tops, many with a temple on them.
solar yearOne full round of the seasons: about 365 days. The Maya Haab' counted it as 365 days: 18 months of 20 days and 5 days more.
stelaAn upright stone carved with a ruler's image and dates. In the Classic period almost every kingdom of the southern Maya lowlands set up stelae.
templeA building set apart for prayer and ceremonies. Maya builders are known for their soaring pyramid temples.
zeroThe digit that marks an empty place in a number. The Maya zero is one of the earliest known in the world.
How this list was compiled: Term list chosen for this site on 2026-10-11. Each meaning is written in our own words and was checked that day against the English Wikipedia article on the term (https://en.wikipedia.org/), whose text is under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license: Maya civilization, Maya peoples, Mesoamerica, Yucatán Peninsula, Petén Basin, Cenote, City-state, Tikal, Chichen Itza, Ruins, Classic Maya collapse, Tropical year, Mayan languages, Maize, Cocoa bean, Slash-and-burn agriculture, Jade use in Mesoamerica, Obsidian use in Mesoamerica, Resplendent quetzal, Ajaw, Mesoamerican ballgame, Maya script, Maya codices, Maya stelae, Maya calendar, Haabʼ, Maya numerals, Maya astronomy, Mesoamerican pyramids and Palenque. Lowlands, highlands, plaza, ruins, reservoir, noble, commoner, scribe, glyph, zero, astronomer, temple and palace were checked against the entry for the term in Wiktionary, the free dictionary (https://en.wiktionary.org/), under the same license. The history in the meanings and the facts was checked a second time against World History Encyclopedia (https://www.worldhistory.org/): the entries Maya Civilization, Maya Government, Maya Architecture, Maya Writing, Tikal, Chichen Itza and Palenque and the articles Maya Food and Agriculture and The Ball Game of Mesoamerica. The sentence after each meaning is our own. Licence: own work
How it works
A Mayan vocabulary worksheet in three sets of twelve terms to match to their meanings, each with an answer key. The first is the land and its cities: Mesoamerica, Yucatán Peninsula, cenote, city-state, Tikal and Chichen Itza.
Read the full guide
Farming, trade and people
In Set, the second of the Mayan vocabulary worksheets has maize, cacao, slash-and-burn, reservoir, jade, obsidian, quetzal, ajaw, noble, commoner, scribe and ballgame.
Writing, numbers and buildings
The third has glyph, codex, stela, bark paper, calendar, solar year, zero, base twenty, astronomer, pyramid, temple and palace. Under the tool each term has a fact, checked against Wikipedia and World History Encyclopedia.
Questions and answers
Is it Maya or Mayan?
Maya is the name of the people and the word for their cities and culture; Mayan is used for their languages. That is why the terms on the sheets say Maya.
Where did the Maya live?
In the Yucatán Peninsula and the lands south of it: what is now southeastern Mexico, all of Guatemala and Belize, and the western parts of Honduras and El Salvador. More than six million Maya live in nearly the same area today.
What happened to the Maya?
In the last century of the Classic period many cities of the southern lowlands were abandoned; drought and a growing population are among the causes proposed. Chichen Itza rose in the north afterwards, and the Maya people never vanished.
How did the Maya write numbers?
With three signs: a dot for one, a bar for five and a shell for zero. Thirteen is three dots above two bars.