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Glite Dictionary
sugar corn

sugar corn

2.5
A type of corn with sweet young ears eaten as a vegetable
  • noun
  • /ˈʃʊɡər kɔrn/
  • US
translation icon : maíz dulce
  • I love fresh sugar corn in the summer.

Examples

  • You can steam or boil sugar corn to bring out its natural sweetness.

  • The farmer harvested the sugar corn early in the morning for the local market.

  • Grilled sugar corn is a popular summer snack at fairs and festivals.

  • Have you tried sugar corn from the farmer's market?

  • Last summer, we enjoyed fresh sugar corn from the local farmer's market, and it tasted delicious.

  • She prepared a salad that included tender pieces of sugar corn picked straight from the garden.

  • He claimed that nothing beats the flavor of sweet sugar corn on the grill during a barbecue.

Synonyms

sweet corn
vssugar corn
7 1.1

A type of corn with sweet, tender kernels that people eat as a vegetable when young

is the same edible young-ear variety rather than a grain crop
Zea saccharata
vssugar corn
  • Specialized
8.4

A type of corn with young sweet ears that people eat as a vegetable

is the common vegetable variety term rather than the formal botanical label
sweet corn plant
vssugar corn
2.5

A type of corn people grow for sweet, tender kernels to eat

focuses on the edible young ears rather than the whole living plant
Zea mays rugosa
vssugar corn
  • Specialized
7.8

A type of corn with sweet young kernels eaten as food

is the everyday vegetable term rather than the botanical label

How Sweet

sugar corn
  • US
2.5
field corn
  • Specialized
1 4.2

Surface Forms

sugar corn singular
sugar corns plural

Morphology

sugar + corn

The meaning 'a sweet variety of corn' is directly and compositionally derived from 'sugar' (sweet) + 'corn' (maize), following a common noun-noun modification pattern in English. This is a transparent, descriptive compound and the concept is cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents would readily infer the meaning.

Etymology

Sugar corn comes from the very sweet kernels found on some kinds of corn. The word sugar points to that natural sweetness and corn is the plant, so sugar corn means a type of corn people eat as a 'sweet' 'vegetable'.