Popcorn

How to spell popcorn

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce popcorn

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does popcorn mean?

1. nounMaize kernels heated until they burst into light puffed pieces, eaten as a snack.

Popcorn in a sentence

• She made a large bowl of popcorn before the film started.

• The cinema sells salted and sweet popcorn at the counter.

Where does popcorn come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

The word popcorn is a straightforward American English compound that joins 'pop', an imitative word echoing the small bursting sound the kernels make, with 'corn', which in American usage means maize. The 'corn' element traces back to the Old English 'corn', a native Germanic word that originally meant any small hard seed or grain of cereal. 'Pop' is much younger and clearly echoic, imitating a quick light explosive noise; it began appearing in English around the 1500s. The two words came together in early nineteenth century America, where maize that bursts when heated was a familiar treat, and the compound is recorded from the 1820s. Because both halves are common everyday words spelled exactly as they sound, the compound carries almost no spelling trap of its own.

How the word is built

• pop (to burst with a sharp sound)
• corn (cereal grain, here maize)