Corn
/kɔːrn/noun
A cereal grain or the edible seeds of certain grasses, especially maize in North American English.
Did you know?In Old English, *corn* meant any grain or small kernel, which is why the same word could once refer to wheat, barley, oats, or later maize depending on the region.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*ǵr̥-no-
“grain, seed”
Proto-Germanic
PGmc
*kurną
“grain, seed, kernel”
Old English
OE
corn
“a grain, seed, or small hard particle”
Middle English
English
corn
“grain, especially the main cereal crop of a region”
16th Century
English
corn
“in North American English, maize; in British English, the chief cereal grain”