Corn is an English word dating back to Anglo-Saxon times or earlier meaning cereal or grain. It commonly refers, in modern American usage, to Indian corn, that is, maize, but can also refer to wheat, barley, rye and so on.

Early Modern English uses

Shakespeare frequently refers to corn, for example

It was a lover and his lass, With a hey and a ho and a hey, nonny-no, That o’er the green corn field did pass, In spring time ...

The second verse goes on

Between the acres of the rye, With a hey and a ho and a hey, nonny-no, These pretty country-folks would lie, In spring time ...

indicating the meaning of the corn in this case.

The 1611 Authorized King James Version of the Bible similarly uses corn on many occasions, such as which has

And all countries came into Egypt to Joseph for to buy corn; because that the famine was so sore in all lands

where modern US versions have for example

In fact, all the world came to Joseph to obtain rations of grain, for famine had gripped the whole world

The early nineteenth century British Corn Laws referred to the importation of wheat.

To corn, meant, among other things, to sprinkle with grains of salt, whence the term corned beef. It also meant to concentrate into grains; see History of gunpowder.

Particular sorts of corn

The word was often used to signify any small edible grain. Thus peppercorn was used for the fruit of black pepper and barleycorn for a grain of barley.

After the colonization of America, maize was introduced to the English-speaking world, and originally known as Indian corn, a term which was then increasingly often shortened to corn in America, but not in the UK, where the original meanings were retained.

See also (with general grain meaning)

• Broom corn: type of millet
• Corn dolly: model made of straw
• Corn exchange: place where cereals were traded

Plants and animals

• Corn-beetle
• Corn borer
• Corn Bunting
• Corn Crake
• Cornflower
• Corn Marigold or Corn Daisy
• Corn poppy
• Corn salad

See also (with maize meaning)

• Corn (color)
• Corn crib: type of granary
• Corn maze or Maize Maze

Maize variants

• List of corn varieties
• Baby corn
• Corn on the cob and Corncob
• Sweet corn and Super sweet corn
• Shoepeg corn
• Waxy corn
• Flint corn and Popcorn
• Bt corn

Edible treatments of maize

• Cornflour usually meaning either
• Cornmeal or
• Cornstarch
• Cornbread or Corn pone
• Candy corn
• Kettle corn
• Caramel corn
• Corn fritters
• Corn dog
• Corn flakes and Corn Pops
• Corn relish
• Pudding Corn
• Creamed corn
• Corn nut
• Corn oil
• Corn syrup and High-fructose corn syrup
• Corn tea
• Corn whiskey and Corn liquor

Other products

• Corn ethanol
• Corn kernels
• Corn gluten meal
• Corn stover
• Corncob pipe

Colloquial terms

• Corn-cracker
• Corn-fed

Plants and animals

• Corn lily
• Corn Plant
• Corn rootworm
• European Corn Borer
• Corn Snake
• Corn smut

References

corn gives u diarehha