corn

Meaning

Noun

1. (Commonwealth, uncountable, usually) Any cereal plant (or its grain) that is the main crop or staple of a country or region.
2. (Australia, Canada, New-Zealand, US, uncountable, usually) Maize, a grain crop of the species Zea mays.
3. (uncountable, usually) A grain or seed, especially of a cereal crop.
4. (uncountable, usually) A small, hard particle.
5. (uncountable, usually) A type of granular snow formed by repeated melting and refreezing, often in mountain spring conditions.
6. (Jamaica, Multicultural-London-English, slang, uncountable, usually) Bullets, ammunition, charge and discharge of firearms.
7. (Jamaica, slang, uncountable, usually) Money.

Verb

1. (Canada, US, transitive) To granulate; to form (a substance) into grains.
2. (Canada, US, transitive) To preserve using coarse salt, e.g. corned beef.
3. (Canada, US, transitive) To provide (an animal) with corn (typically maize; or, in Scotland, oats) for feed.
4. (obsolete, transitive) To render intoxicated.
5. (Jamaica, Multicultural-London-English, slang, transitive) To shoot up with bullets as by a shotgun (corn).

Synonyms

maize

grain

Indian corn

callus

callosity

wheat

cereal

salt

🧂

sweet corn

seed

blister

cereals

mealies

Zea mays

corn whisky

rice

🍚

wart

clavus

corn whiskey

pickle

common wheat

Indian corn

edible corn

cure

callous

scar

sorghum

spike

stalk

stem

tyle

weal

Avena

bread wheat

cereal grass

food grain

Hordeum

maise

rice and barley

kaffir corn

grain maize

Triticum aestivum

soft wheat

triticum sativum

triticum vulgare

cereal oat

common barley

salinate

corn-whiskey

Zea moys

Translations

maïs

🌽

Mais

maíz

🌽

milho

mais

granturco

Getreide

callo

cor

maïs

maiz

graan

eksteroog

Zea mays

Pronounced as (IPA)

/kɔːn/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: corn

Inherited from Old English: corn

Cognate with Dutch: koren

Cognate with German: Korn

Cognate with Danish: korn

Cognate with Norwegian Bokmål: korn

Cognate with Norwegian Nynorsk: korn

Cognate with Swedish: korn

Cognate with Albanian: grurë

Cognate with Russian: зерно́

Cognate with Czech: zrno

Cognate with Latin: grānum

Cognate with Lithuanian: žirnis

Inherited from Middle English: corne

Cognate with French: cor

In summary

Inherited from Middle English corn, from Old English corn, from Proto-West Germanic *korn, from Proto-Germanic *kurną, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵr̥h₂nóm (“grain; worn-down”), from *ǵerh₂- (“grow old, mature”).
Cognate with Dutch koren, German Low German Koorn, German Korn, Danish korn, Norwegian Bokmål korn, Norwegian Nynorsk korn and Swedish korn; see also Albanian grurë, Russian зерно́ (zernó), Czech zrno, Latin grānum and Lithuanian žirnis. Doublet of grain, gram, granum, and grao.
The sense maize (Zea mays) is an ellipsis of Indian corn that developed in 18th century North America.

Sentences

Farmers cultivated corn , potatoes , wheat and oats .