Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A tall Mexican and Central American annual plant (Zea mexicana) related to corn and cultivated for fodder.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A grass, Euchlœna luxurians, native in Mexico and Central America, introduced into cultivation in various parts of the world. It is closely allied to the Indian corn, having the male flowers in a tassel at the top, the seed, however, borne not on a cob, but on slender stems from the joints, inclosed in a loose husk. It is an annual, reaching the height of 12 feet, suitable for forage and perhaps the most prolific of forage-plants, sending up sometimes sixty or eighty shoots, and springing up again when cut. It endures drought fairly well, though preferring humid soil. Its success in the southern United States is hindered by its not ripening its seed; it is found to do so, however, in some subtropical localities. Also called
Guatemala grass .
Wiktionary
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. (Bot.) A large grass (Euchlæna luxurians) closely related to maize. It is native of Mexico and Central America, but is now cultivated for fodder in the Southern United States and in many warm countries. Called also
Guatemala grass .
Etymologies
- From French téosinte, from Spanish teocinte, from Classical Nahuatl teocintli, apparently from teōtl ("god") + cintli ("dried maize"). (Wiktionary)
- American Spanish, from Nahuatl teocintli : teōtl, sacred + cintli, dried ear of corn. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“In the central highlands, where wild grass called teosinte was first cross-bred into the staff of life some 9,000 years ago, corn is viewed not only as a staple food but as a sacrament of Mesoamerican civilization.”
The Huffington Post: Jan McGirk: Mexico's Mutant Kernels Ripen After GM Corn Ban Reversed
“Corn is believed to have evolved from a minuscule grain called teosinte, slightly bigger than an earwig.”
“Maize, known in the United States as “corn” and among biologists as Zea mays, was domesticated in Mexico some 7,000 to 10,000 years ago from a large grass called teosinte Zea mexicana, which grows in open woodlands.”
Simon & Schuster: On Food and Cooking, The Science and Lore of the Kitchen
“They pinpointed a particular mutation that happened 23,000 years ago in corn's nearest relative - a short, bushy plant called teosinte , which grows wild in Central America.”
“Corn was first domesticated in Mexico nearly 9,000 years ago from a wild grass called teosinte," Dolores Piperno, co-author and curator of New World archaeology at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History, said in a written statement.”
“This picture shows a primitive form of corn, called teosinte, compared to modern corn:”
“The crop was domesticated from a Central American grass called teosinte some 10,000 years ago.”
“Since corn was first domesticated from teosinte grass 10,000 years ago, Mexican farmers have been selecting the kernels with the most desirable traits, so that the corn we know today bears very little resemblance to the scraggly plant of its previous incarnations.”
“Or how about maize, a gross parody of grain created by selectively cultivating teosinte?”
“Corn was cultivated in The Americas long before white settlers arrived and was hybridized originally from a wild grass called teosinte.”
The Huffington Post: Brigitte Mars: Simple Summer Soup With Brigitte Mars
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘teosinte’.
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Open List: The World of Corn
Corn-related words and phrases. This versatile crop is so important to cultures and economies - from most basic indigenous foodstuff and animal feed to source of biopolymer and biofuel.
seed corn, field corn, flint corn, sweet corn, biofuel, biopolymer, corn starch, modified corn starch, cornstarch, cornflour, polylactic acid, citric acid and 390 more...
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Nahuatl
"Spanish náhuatl, from Nahuatl, that which pleases the ear, from nahua-, audible, intelligent, clear."
- etymology from The American Heritage Dictionary
Nahuatl, Zapotec, Aztec, avocado, guacamole, amole, atlatl, axolotl, black sapote, cacao, cacomistle, chayote and 77 more...
Tweets
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