What does "corn" mean?
Any cereal plant (or its grain) that is the main crop or staple of a country or region.
Corn
/kɔːn/ name, noun, verb, slang
name, noun, verb, slang ·Common ·Middle school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: Any cereal plant (or its grain) that is the main crop or staple of a country or region.
- Grammar: corn is listed as name, noun, verb, slang.
- Nearest alternatives: maize, aftergrass, anhydrate, bamboo.
- Usage evidence: The family were all out reaping the corn.
How to use "corn"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "corn" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "corn" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "corn" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "corn" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "corn" is acting as name, noun, verb, slang in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "maize" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "corn", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 Any cereal plant (or its grain) that is the main crop or staple of a country or region. Commonwealth, uncountable, usually
"And hee ſaid, Beholde, I haue heard that there is corne in Egypt: get you downe thither and buy for vs from thence, that we may liue, and not die."
- 2 A type of callus, usually on the feet or hands. transitive
"Welcome Gentlemen, / Ladies that haue their toes / Vnplagu’d with Cornes, will walke about with you:[…]"
- 3 Something (e.g., acting, humour, music, or writing) which is deemed old-fashioned or intended to induce emotion. Canada, US, transitive, uncountable
"He had a sharp wit, true enough, but also a good, healthy mountaineer's love of pure corn, the slapstick stuff, the in-jokes that get funnier with every repetition and never amuse anybody who wasn't there."
- 4 pornography; porn Internet, euphemistic, transitive, uncountable
- 5 something sentimental or trite wordnet
Show 14 more definitions
- 6 Maize, a grain crop of the species Zea mays. Australia, Canada, New-Zealand, US, uncountable, usually
"The planting or sowing of maize, exclusively called corn, was just accomplished on the Town Hill, when I reached it."
- 7 An inflammatory disease of a horse's hoof, at the caudal part of the sole. transitive
- 8 ears of corn that can be prepared and served for human food wordnet
- 9 A grain or seed, especially of a cereal crop. uncountable, usually
"He paid her the nominal fee of two corns of barley."
- 10 Skin hyperplasia with underlying fibroma between both digits of cattle. transitive
- 11 whiskey distilled from a mash of not less than 80 percent corn wordnet
- 12 A small, hard particle. uncountable, usually
"The least corn of sand is not so small to the whole earth, as man is to the heaven:[…]"
- 13 tall annual cereal grass bearing kernels on large ears: widely cultivated in America in many varieties; the principal cereal in Mexico and Central and South America since pre-Columbian times wordnet
- 14 A type of granular snow formed by repeated melting and refreezing, often in mountain spring conditions. uncountable, usually
- 15 (Great Britain) any of various cereal plants (especially the dominant crop of the region — wheat in Great Britain or oats in Scotland and Ireland) wordnet
- 16 Bullets, ammunition, charge and discharge of firearms. Jamaica, Multicultural-London-English, slang, uncountable, usually
"R.I.P Scumpy ah you did say Popcaan And if a boy diss we clap corn."
- 17 the dried grains or kernels or corn used as animal feed or ground for meal wordnet
- 18 Money. Jamaica, slang, uncountable, usually
"You know dem have wedge while we have corn. Say Cockney say be first, my son! We just say Gwan!"
- 19 a hard thickening of the skin (especially on the top or sides of the toes) caused by the pressure of ill-fitting shoes wordnet
Verb
- 1 To granulate; to form (a substance) into grains. Canada, US, transitive
"to corn gunpowder"
- 2 preserve with large-grained rock salt wordnet
- 3 To preserve using coarse salt, e.g. corned beef. Canada, US, transitive
- 4 feed (cattle) with corn wordnet
- 5 To provide (an animal) with corn (typically maize; or, in Scotland, oats) for feed. Canada, US, transitive
"Corn the horses."
Show 2 more definitions
- 6 To render intoxicated. obsolete, transitive
"ale strong enough to corn one"
- 7 To shoot up with bullets as by a shotgun (corn). Jamaica, Multicultural-London-English, slang, transitive
"Anywhere, anytime, I'll get him, if he's in love; I'll corn his wedding He backed his wetter, I backed my wetter but who really held that wetting?"
Proper Noun
- 1 A surname.
- 2 A town in Oklahoma.
Example
"The family were all out reaping the corn."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "corn"?
Common synonyms include: maize, aftergrass, anhydrate, bamboo, banality, barley.
How do you use "corn" in a sentence?
The family were all out reaping the corn.
How do you pronounce "corn"?
Pronounced /kɔːn/.
Etymology
Etymology 1
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.
Etymology 2
Inherited from Middle English corne, from Old French corn (modern French cor), from Latin cornū. Doublet of corno, cornu, and horn.
Etymology 3
From corny.
Etymology 4
Rhyming euphemism for porn, and with influence from the emoji substitute 🌽.
Etymology 5
* As an English surname, from the nouns crane, corn, and quern. * As a German surname, spelling variant of Korn, meaning "grain."