Corn Definition

kôrn
corns
noun
corns
A tiny, hard particle, as of salt or sand; granule; grain.
Webster's New World
A cultivated American cereal plant (Zea mays) of the grass family, with the grain borne on cobs enclosed in husks; maize.
Webster's New World
The ears or kernels of this cereal plant.
Webster's New World
The seeds of all cereal grasses, as wheat, rye, barley, etc.; grain.
Webster's New World
A small, hard seed or seedlike fruit, esp. a seed or grain of a cereal grass; kernel.
Peppercorn, barleycorn.
Webster's New World
verb
corns
To form into granules.
Webster's New World
To preserve or pickle with salt granules or in brine.
Webster's New World
To preserve (beef, for example) in brine.
American Heritage
To feed grain to (animals)
Webster's New World
To form hard particles; become grainy.
American Heritage
Synonyms:
other
Wiktionary
suffix

Having (such) horns; one having (such) horns.

Other Word Forms of Corn

Noun

Singular:
corn
Plural:
corns

Origin of Corn

  • From Middle English corn, from Old English corn, from Proto-Germanic *kurną, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵr̥h₂nóm (“grain; worn-down”), neuter participle of Proto-Indo-European *ǵer- (“to wear down”), or a substantivized form of *ǵr̥h₂-nós (“matured, grown old”), from *ǵerh₂- (“grow old, mature”). Cognate with Dutch koren, Low German Koorn, German Korn, Danish/Norwegian/Swedish korn; see also Russian зерно (zerno), Czech zrno, Latin grānum, Lithuanian žirnis, Persian خرمن (xarman), and English grain.

    From Wiktionary

  • Middle English corne from Old French horn from Latin cornū ker-1 in Indo-European roots

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

  • Middle English grain from Old English gr̥ə-no- in Indo-European roots

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

  • This use was first used in 1932, as corny, something appealing to country folk.

    From Wiktionary

  • From Old French corn (modern French cor).

    From Wiktionary

  • Latin cornu (“horn")

    From Wiktionary

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