DictionaryAI

corn

KORN/kɔɹn/UKKAWN/kɔːn/

Pluralcorns (some meanings)

Verbcorns, corning, corned

16 meanings of corn

Practice

  1. 1
    maizenounAustraliaCanadaNew ZealandUSuncountable
    Maize (Zea mays), a tall cereal plant grown for food, animal feed, and oil; also its kernels, eaten as a vegetable or ground as grain.

    The farm rotates corn and soybeans across its fields each year.

    Heavy rain flattened acres of corn before the harvest.

    Similarmaize

    Note

    Here the general word for staple grain narrowed to one crop. Edward Augustus Kendall, in his Travels Through the Northern Parts of the United States (1809), notes that maize is 'exclusively called corn'. Indian corn and sweet corn are the compounds that pin the meaning down.

    Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

    • The maize sense developed by narrowing the broader grain sense. en.wiktionary.org
    • Edward Augustus Kendall wrote Travels Through the Northern Parts of the United States, first published in 1809. tile.loc.gov
    • Kendall describes maize as 'exclusively called corn'. en.wiktionary.org
  2. 2
    nounarchaicuncountable
    A single grain or seed, especially of a cereal, or any small hard particle.
    Verely, verely, I ſay vnto you, Except a corne of wheat fall into the ground, and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.
    1611, The Holy Bible, King James Version
    He paid her the nominal fee of two corns of barley.

    UsageFollowed by of and the grain: a corn of wheat. Everyday English says a grain or a seed instead.

    Note

    It is usually followed by of and the name of the grain, as in 'two corns of barley', or the King James Bible's 'Except a corne of wheat fall into the ground, and die'.

    Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 1 fact

    • The quotation occurs in the King James Bible, with the spelling and punctuation given, at John 12:24. kingjamesbibleonline.org
  3. 3
    salt-cureverbtransitive
    To preserve meat by curing it with coarse salt.

    Butchers corn brisket in barrels of brine and coarse salt.

    Sailors learned to corn beef for long voyages without refrigeration.

    UsageMostly met as corned, in corned beef. The object is the meat: corn a brisket.

    Similarcure, salt, pickle

    Note

    The verb is best known in its past participle, in corned beef. The grains in question are the coarse salt rubbed into the meat, not any cereal, so corned beef has nothing to do with maize.

    Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

    • The name corned beef refers to coarse grains of salt rubbed into meat for preservation. en.wikipedia.org
    • The corn in corned beef does not refer to maize or another cereal. govinfo.gov
  4. 4
    nounCommonwealthuncountable
    The chief cereal crop of a country or region, or its grain, such as wheat in England or oats in Scotland.

    The medieval town levied a tax on every sack of corn brought to market.

    After weeks of rain, the English corn harvest failed, and the price of wheat and bread soared.

    Similargrain, cereal

    Note

    A word whose meaning moves with the map: it names whatever grain a people chiefly lives on, much as Old English corn and its root meaning "grain" did. Commonwealth English, except in Canada, Australia and New Zealand, still uses it this way, so a field of corn there need not be maize. In this older, general sense the King James Bible of 1611 finds "corne in Egypt," and John Mason Neale (1847) calls Demeter the goddess of corn.

    Checked 3 Nov 2026 · 6 facts

Practice

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Origins

Meanings 1–4, 7–9

The word goes back to *ǵr̥h₂nóm ("grain") in Proto-Indo-European, which became Proto-Germanic *kurną and then Old English corn, passing unchanged into Middle English. German Korn, Dutch koren, and Swedish korn are cognates, and "grain" is a doublet. The meaning "maize" arose in 18th-century North America as a shortening of "Indian corn."

Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 6 facts

  • Corn descends from Proto-Indo-European *ǵr̥h₂nóm (“grain”) through Proto-Germanic *kurną and Old English corn to Middle English corn, retaining the spelling corn. en.wiktionary.org
  • German Korn is a cognate of corn. en.wiktionary.org
  • Dutch koren is a cognate of corn. en.wiktionary.org
  • Swedish korn is a cognate of corn. en.wiktionary.org
  • Grain and corn are etymological doublets. en.wiktionary.org
  • The maize meaning developed in eighteenth-century North America through shortening Indian corn. en.wikipedia.org
Meaning 5

Latin cornū became Old French corn (cor in modern French) and then Middle English corne. Its doublets are "corno," "cornu," and "horn."

Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 6 facts

Meaning 6

This comes from "corny."

Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 1 fact

  • Corn, in the sense of old-fashioned or sentimental entertainment, comes from corny. en.wiktionary.org