Maybe means possibly — nobody is sure yet. Maybe tomorrow, maybe not, maybe he forgot.
It usually stands at the beginning of a sentence, where perhaps would also work; perhaps is slightly more formal and maybe is what people actually say. It also softens a suggestion: maybe we should wait, which is a polite way of saying we should. Note maybe as a noun, meaning an uncertain answer — a lot of maybes; and that maybe is one word while it may be is three and means something more literal.
1adverbmaybePossibly; nobody is sure.
“Maybe he forgot, and maybe he did not want to come.”
2adverbsoftenUsed to soften a suggestion.
“Maybe we should ask before we start moving things.”
Too few real examples of this word to estimate which sense is commonest.
maybe is a degree of uncertainty.
Maybe is a contraction of the phrase it may be, recorded from the fifteenth century. English built several of these — perhaps, maybe, mayhap — and only two survived into everyday use.
Middle English
it may be
English, today
maybe
From an ellipsis of Middle English it may be, equivalent to may + be. Compare mayhap.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA