Etymology

corny

C3O1R1N1Y4

Today it means: Boring and unoriginal. Full definition →

Middle English corny ← Old English corn ← Proto-West Germanic *korn
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corny · adjective1

  1. Proto-Indo-European*ǵerh₂-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*ǵr̥h₂-nós
  3. Proto-Indo-European*ǵr̥h₂nóm
  4. Proto-Germanic*kurną
  5. Proto-West Germanic*korn
  6. Old Englishcorn
  7. Middle Englishcorn
  8. Middle Englishcorny
  9. English todaycorny

From Middle English corny, equivalent to corn (“a type of cereal or grain”) + -y. Piecewise doublet of grainy. In the "hackneyed" sense, from "corn catalogue jokes", reputedly low-quality jokes that were formerly printed in mail-order seed catalogues.

corny · adjective2

  1. Proto-Indo-European*ḱer-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*ḱerh₂-
  3. Proto-Italic*kornū
  4. Latincornū̆
  5. Latincornua
  6. Vulgar Latin*corna
  7. Old Frenchcorne
  8. Middle Englishcorne
  9. Englishcorn
  10. English todaycorny

From corn (“a type of callus”) + -y. Piecewise doublet of horny.

corny · adjective3

  1. Proto-Indo-European*ḱer-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*ḱerh₂-
  3. Proto-Italic*kornū
  4. Latincornū̆
  5. Latincornua
  6. Vulgar Latin*corna
  7. Old Frenchcorne
  8. Middle Frenchcorne
  9. Latincornu
  10. English todaycorny

From Middle French corne + English -y, or from Latin cornu + English -y. Piecewise doublet of horny.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.