ZEA MAYS

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does Zea mays mean? 

• ZEA MAYS (noun)
  The noun ZEA MAYS has 1 sense:

1. tall annual cereal grass bearing kernels on large ears: widely cultivated in America in many varieties; the principal cereal in Mexico and Central and South America since pre-Columbian times

  Familiarity information: ZEA MAYS used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• ZEA MAYS (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Tall annual cereal grass bearing kernels on large ears: widely cultivated in America in many varieties; the principal cereal in Mexico and Central and South America since pre-Columbian times

Classified under:

Nouns denoting plants

Synonyms:

corn; Indian corn; maize; Zea mays

Hypernyms ("Zea mays" is a kind of...):

cereal; cereal grass (grass whose starchy grains are used as food: wheat; rice; rye; oats; maize; buckwheat; millet)

Meronyms (parts of "Zea mays"):

corn; edible corn (ears of corn that can be prepared and served for human food)

corn cob; corncob (the hard cylindrical core that bears the kernels of an ear of corn)

corn stalk; cornstalk (the stalk of a corn plant)

capitulum; ear; spike (fruiting spike of a cereal plant especially corn)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "Zea mays"):

field corn (corn grown primarily for animal feed or market grain)

green corn; sugar corn; sweet corn; sweet corn plant; Zea mays rugosa; Zea saccharata (a corn plant developed in order to have young ears that are sweet and suitable for eating)

popcorn; Zea mays everta (corn having small ears and kernels that burst when exposed to dry heat)

Holonyms ("Zea mays" is a member of...):

genus Zea; Zea (corn)