zea maize, n.

zea-maize
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zea-maize_n%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
Revised 2018

# zea maizenoun

## Factsheet

### What does the noun zea maize mean?

There is one meaning in OED's entry for the noun zea maize. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definition, usage, and quotation evidence.

### How common is the noun zea maize?

Fewer than 0.01occurrences per million words in modern written English

1810 | 0.0073
1820 | 0.011
1830 | 0.0096
1840 | 0.0083
1850 | 0.0069
1860 | 0.0067
1870 | 0.0066
1880 | 0.0052
1890 | 0.0012
1900 | 0.0011
1910 | 0.0011
1920 | 0.0001
1930 | 0.0002
1940 | 0.0002
1950 | 0.0002
1960 | 0.0002
1970 | 0.0003
1980 | 0.0004
1990 | 0.0004
2000 | 0.0004
2010 | 0.0004

### Where does the noun zea maize come from?

Earliest known use

1810s

The earliest known use of the noun zea maize is in the 1810s.

OED's earliest evidence for zea maize is from 1811, in a translation by J. Black.

### Nearby entries

1. zealotry, n. 1653–
2. zealous, adj.?1495–
3. zealously, adv.?1495–
4. zealousness, n. c1555–
5. zealousy, n. 1542–
6. zeal-pretending, adj. 1652–69
7. zeal-quenching, adj. 1688–1877
8. zeal-scoffing, adj. 1605
9. zeal-transported, adj. a1644–59
10. zeal-worthy, adj. 1797
11. zea maize, n.1811–
12. zearalanol, n. 1966–
13. zearalenone, n. 1966–
14. zeatin, n. 1963–
15. zeaxanthin, n. 1929–
16. Zebedist, n. 1574
17. zebra, n. 1597–
18. zebra caterpillar, n. 1841–
19. zebra crossing, n. 1934–
20. zebra danio, n. 1917–
21. zebraed, adj. 1806–

## Etymology

After scientific Latin Zea mays (Linnaeus Species plantarum (1753) vol. I. 971).

## Meaning & use

Now rare.

1. 1811–
   Maize, Zea mays; (also) the seeds of this plant collectively.
   1. 1811

      > The zea maize was the only farinaceous gramen cultivated by the Americans before the arrival of the Europeans.

      J. Black, translation of A. von Humboldt, Political Essay New Spain vol. II. iii. viii. 96
   2. 1853

      > The lance-like blades of the zea maize.

      M. Reid, Rifle Rangers (new edition) i. 16
   3. 1917

      > The maiden gave him..portions of an Indian preparation of the ‘zea maize’.

      E. B. Stanton, Fata Morgana 144
   4. 2005

      > The Malaysian Garden is home to edible exotics..as well as global staples, notably zea maize, amaranth and soya bean.

      Evening Standard 10 August (Homes & Prop. section) 31/2
   plants
   1. green corn c1450–
      a. Unripe corn (corn, n.¹ II.4a), corn not ready for harvesting (now rare); b. spec. (chiefly North American) maize picked at a stage before full…
   2. flint corn 1705–
      The name of certain varieties of maize, esp. Zea mays var. indurata, having very hard kernels.
   3. blue corn 1722–
      A variety of relatively high-protein maize with kernels of a bluish colour.
   4. flint 1802–
      Elliptical for flint corn (see compounds C.3).
   5. field corn 1808–
      Any of various kinds of maize with a relatively low sugar content, grown principally as animal food or for processing rather than for eating as a…
   6. zea maize 1811–
      Maize, Zea mays; (also) the seeds of this plant collectively.
   7. sweet corn a1817–
      A sweet-flavoured variety of maize.
   8. squaw corn 1823–
      Any of several varieties of maize, typically ones having soft grains of various colours; cf. soft corn, n.² 1.
   9. dent corn 1853–
      A variety of corn (maize) having a dent or depression in each kernel. Also elliptical. (See also quot. 1909.) U.S.
   10. tassel-corn 1883–
       The grain of maize borne abnormally on the ‘tassel’ (see tassel, n.¹ 3a).
   11. country gentleman 1892–
       Frequently with capital initials. Originally U.S. A variety of sweetcorn with sweet, pale yellow, peg-shaped kernels.
   View in Historical Thesaurus

## Frequency

zea maize typically occurs fewer than 0.01 times per million words in modern written English.

zea maize is in frequency band 1, which contains words occurring fewer than 0.001 times per million words in modern written English. More about OED's frequency bands

Frequency data is computed programmatically, and should be regarded as an estimate.

### Frequency of zea maize, n., 1810–2010

* Occurrences per million words in written English

Historical frequency series are derived from Google Books Ngrams (version 2), a data set based on the Google Books corpus of several million books printed in English between 1500 and 2010.

The overall frequency for a given word is calculated by summing frequencies for the main form of the word, any plural or inflected forms, and any major spelling variations.

For sets of homographs (distinct entries that share the same word-form, e.g. mole, n.¹, mole, n.², mole, n.³, etc.), we have estimated the frequency of each homograph entry as a fraction of the total Ngrams frequency for the word-form. This may result in inaccuracies.

Smoothing has been applied to series for lower-frequency words, using a moving-average algorithm. This reduces short-term fluctuations, which may be produced by variability in the content of the Google Books corpus.

Decade | Frequency per million words
--- | ---
1810 | 0.0073
1820 | 0.011
1830 | 0.0096
1840 | 0.0083
1850 | 0.0069
1860 | 0.0067
1870 | 0.0066
1880 | 0.0052
1890 | 0.0012
1900 | 0.0011
1910 | 0.0011
1920 | 0.0001
1930 | 0.0002
1940 | 0.0002
1950 | 0.0002
1960 | 0.0002
1970 | 0.0003
1980 | 0.0004
1990 | 0.0004
2000 | 0.0004
2010 | 0.0004

Originally published as part of the entry for zea, n.

zea, n. was revised in June 2018.