Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “cornmeal” come from?

Cornmeal derives from English corn and English meal, with meal tracing through English mole, English moll, English Moll, and English Mary back to Latin cornu and Proto-Indo-European ǵerh₂- and mel-.

cornmeal (English): Dried corn milled to a coarse meal

Definitions

  1. Dried corn milled to a coarse meal

Ancestry of “cornmeal”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1EnglishmealFood that is prepared and eaten, usually at a...
2EnglishmoléAlternative spelling of mole
3EnglishMoll—
4EnglishmaryA male homosexual
5Frenchmariefirst-person singular present indicative of...
6Old FrenchMarie—
7LatinMarīa—
8Ancient GreekΜαρία—
9Hebrewמִרְיָם—
10Aramaicמריםbitter
11Biblical Hebrewמִרְיָם—

Words derived from “cornmeal”

  • cornmealy
Every word from Biblical Hebrew מִרְיָם →