A cereal plant of the genus Zea (Zea Mays), also simply called corn, used widely as a food; the maize, a native plant of America;

a primitive variety of Zea Mays having variegated kernels on each cob, in distinction from the more commonly used yellow corn; it is often used as decoration at Thanksgiving time. See Corn, and Maize.

Corn was and is native to the Americas. Native People in this country called this grain by its name in their own language. Years after English colonists came, the Wampanoag also called it by the English name; "corn." The English colonists called it "Indian corn" because it was so different from the types of corns (or grains) they were used to eating in England, such as wheat, rye, barley and oats.