maize

Etymology

It is borrowed from Spanish mahiz, now maíz,^[2][3][4] from Taíno mahiz or mahís, the word for the plant in Taino, an Arawakan language of the Caribbean.^[2][5][6][7] The OED notes that the Spanish word is first attested in 1500, in Columbus's diary, and slightly earlier in post-classical Latin as Medieval Latin maizium, and that it reached English both directly and through that Latin form or through Middle French maith, used in 1554.^[2] The Shorter Oxford and Hoad also allow a borrowing through French maïs, formerly mahiz.^[3][4][8] Etymonline takes it from the Spanish of Cuba and calls the Taino word the native name of the plant.^[5] The OED compares Lokono marisi, reported from an Arawak language of Guyana, and Carib márichi, recorded by Breton in 1665,^[2] and Weekley too thought the Spanish word probably the same as the word of Guiana.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The cereal plant and its grain: 1541, in R. Barlow's translation of Fernández de Enciso.^[2][9] Merriam-Webster dates its first known use to about 1544,^[10] Barnhart to 1555, in Eden's translation of the Decades of the New World,^[11] and Etymonline gives the 1550s for the grain and the 1580s for the plant.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The plant and its grain were both called maize from the first records.^[2][9] Bartlett (1848) described it as the great staple of native American agriculture, a name the Spaniards took over from the Caribbean and spread to the languages of Europe; the earliest dictionary he found it in was Florio's of 1598.^[12] In Europe it was also called Turkey corn, from the same mistaken notion of its origin that named the turkey.^[5] Johnson (1755) described it under Indian wheat.^[13] From 1838 maize also named a pale yellow like that of the grain, and a coal-tar dye of that colour, often of cloth or dresses.^[2][9] In the United States and Canada the usual name of the plant is corn, and maize is chiefly British.^[14][15]

Timeline

• 1541 – the cereal plant and its grain.^[2][9] Merriam-Webster dates it to about 1544, and Barnhart to 1555, in Eden's translation of the Decades of the New World.^[10][11]
• 1838 – a pale yellow colour; a dye of this colour.^[2][9]

Meanings

Noun

1. A tall cereal grass of Central American origin, Zea mays, grown for its large yellow grains, which form on a cob; corn or Indian corn.^[14][2][10]
2. The grain of this plant, used as food and fodder and as a source of oil: a sack of ground maize.^[14][2]
3. A pale yellow colour; also as an adjective: a maize ribbon.^[14][2][10]

Related words

• maze

Usage notes

In American and Canadian English the plant and its grain are usually called corn, and maize is chiefly the British name.^[14][15]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
7. ^ Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
8. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
9. ^ a b c d e Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
10. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
11. ^ a b Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
12. ^ Bartlett, John Russell (1848), Dictionary of Americanisms, New York: Bartlett and Welford
13. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
14. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
15. ^ a b Webster's New World College Dictionary (2014), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt