English
corny
Corny comes from Middle English corny ‘containing corn’, from corn ‘any plant that bears grain, especially wheat’, and perhaps ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ǵerh₂- ‘to grow old, to mature’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ǵerh₂-1‘to grow old, to mature’uncertain
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ǵr̥h₂-nós1uncertain
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ǵr̥h₂nóm1‘grain’reconstructed
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*kurną1‘corn, grain, cereal’reconstructed
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*korn1‘corn, grain, cereal’reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150corn1‘corn, a grain or seed’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500corn1‘any plant that bears grain, especially wheat’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500corny1‘containing corn’
- Englishearliest quotation 1718corny1
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, English corny
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1718, Matthew Prior, Solomon on the Vanity of the World. A Poem in Three Books.: “The corny ear.”.
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ǵerh₂-Wiktionary, English corny‘to grow old, to mature’uncertain
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ǵr̥h₂-nósWiktionary, English cornyuncertain
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ǵr̥h₂nómWiktionary, English corny‘grain’reconstructed
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*kurnąWiktionary, English corny‘corn, grain, cereal’reconstructed
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*kornWiktionary, English corny‘corn, grain, cereal’reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150cornWiktionary, English corny‘corn, a grain or seed’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500cornWiktionary, English corny‘any plant that bears grain, especially wheat’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500cornyWiktionary, English corny‘containing corn’
- Englishearliest quotation 1718cornyWiktionary, English corny. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1718, Matthew Prior, Solomon on the Vanity of the World. A Poem in Three Books.: “The corny ear.”
Formed from corn ‘a type of cereal or grain’ + -y
Proto-Indo-European *ǵr̥h₂nóm ‘grain’
Proto-Germanic *kurną ‘corn, grain, cereal’
Proto-West Germanic *korn ‘corn, grain, cereal’
Old English corn ‘corn, a grain or seed’
Middle English corn ‘any plant that bears grain, especially wheat’
English corn
The story
In the "hackneyed" sense, from "corn catalogue jokes", reputedly low-quality jokes that were formerly printed in mail-order seed catalogues.
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *ǵerh₂- ‘to grow old, to mature’
carl, karl, garnet, geriatrics, churlish, 12 more
through Proto-Indo-European *ǵr̥h₂nóm ‘grain’
grain, granite, gram, grange, garner, granular, granary, grenadier, granule, 9 more
through Proto-Germanic *kurną ‘corn, grain, cereal’
through Middle English corn ‘any plant that bears grain, especially wheat’
Today it means
adj Boring and unoriginal.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “corny”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *ǵerh₂- / corny