popcorn

See also: Popcorn

English

Popcorn.

Alternative forms

• pop-corn, popped corn

Etymology

Short for popped corn. By surface analysis, pop +‎ corn.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈpɒp.kɔː(ɹ)n/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈpɑp.kɔɹn/

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• (Boston, New England) IPA^(key): /ˈpʌp.kɔɹn/, [ˈpʌp.kɒːn], [ˈpʌp.kɔɹn]

Noun

popcorn (countable and uncountable, plural popcorns)

1. (chiefly uncountable) A snack food made from corn or maize kernels popped by dry heating.

   Synonyms: maizypop (obsolete, British), popmaize (rare)

   My friends and I ordered popcorn during the interval of the movie.

2. (countable) A serving of popcorn.
   • 1992 July 5, Phil Reeves, “Kerpow] Dynamic duo takes on Tinseltown”, in The Independent‎^[1], London: Independent News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 14 July 2015:

     Warner Bros has offered the two executives less than dollars 1m as an out-of-court settlement, a sum dismissed by Mr [Pierce] O'Donnell as 'two popcorns and two Cokes'.

   • 2000 January 7, Aaron Donovan, quoting Angel, “The Neediest Cases: A ‘Big Sister’ Is Filling a Void in a Young Girl’s Life”, in The New York Times‎^[2], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 27 May 2015:

     When we went to Astoria, to see 'Drive Me Crazy,' they gave you one popcorn and the other one was free. I asked her if she wanted to eat mine, but she said there was so much popcorn, she was going to get sick.

   • 2006 July 13, Amanda Pennington, “A new wave for cineastes”, in Daily Pilot‎^[3], Los Angeles, Calif.: Los Angeles Times Communications, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 28 July 2025:

     Every Wednesday night is Date Night, and for $10 sweethearts can get two tickets, two popcorns and two sodas.

3. (countable, rare) A piece of popcorn.
   • 1988, Jim Freedman, “I-ran Sucks”, in Drawing Heat, Windsor, Ont.: Black Moss Press, →ISBN, page 17:

     Some popcorns silently flicked off like face peelings on his shoe.

   • 1992 March 16, Shri Anbarasu Era, quotee, Lok Sabha Debates (English Version): Third Session (Tenth Lok Sabha), 10th series, volume IX, number 16, New Delhi: Lok Sabha Secretariat, →OCLC, column 714:

     Don’t you feel this is nothing but throwing popcorns before a hungry elephant? This is definitely throwing popcorns before the hungry elephant. This is the imbalance that I wanted to pointed out.

   • 2010 February 11, Sripali Vaiamon, “Conflicts in Religions and a Tidal Wave”, in The Therapy: A Novel, Bloomington, Ind.: iUniverse, →ISBN, page 271:

     Sarani threw a few popcorns into her mouth.

   • 2012, Edmond Manning, chapter 3, in King Perry, Miami, Fla.: Dreamspinner Press, →ISBN, page 35:

     The boat lurches through choppy waves with resonating booms, tourists chatter with excitement, and the woman throwing popcorns squeals whenever our seagull guards reappear, ready for the next assault.

   • 2021, Samya Khanna, “Hershey’s and Love”, in Kulsum Yasmin, compiler, Shades of Moon, Ambikapur, Chhattisgarh: Rosewood Publication, ASIN B09LHW7NN5, page 224:

     “Blah, kiss her you fool!” an annoyingly familiar voice yelled from the door as he threw a handful of popcorns at us.

4. (chiefly uncountable) A type of corn or maize with a hard outer hull that, along with the type of starch it contains, makes it suitable for popping.

   Synonym: popmaize (rare)

5. (knitting) A kind of stitch similar to a bobble.
   • 2008, Claire Compton, Sue Whiting, The Knitting and Crochet Bible, page 45:

     From the top the sample shows four stitch popcorns, five stitch bobbles, two rows of bells and a central leaf with leaves sloping to the left and right each side.

6. (attributive) A form of brainstorming in which participants call out their ideas immediately, instead of waiting for an assigned turn to speak.
   • 2002, Betsi Harris Ehrlich, Transactional Six Sigma and Lean Servicing, page 161:

     With the "popcorn" method, all team members in the session spontaneously call out ideas and a facilitator writes them on a flip chart.

   • 2011, Carolyn Jane Bohler, God the What?:

     As a way to begin the discussion about God's will, you might want to ask the group to do some "popcorn" brainstorming about the pros and cons of believing that everything that happens is God's will.

   • 2022, Jill Harrison Berg, Uprooting Instructional Inequity, page 155:

     Ask: What Twitter-style hashtag characterizes our community? (Use popcorn brainstorming to elicit responses.)

7. (humorous) Entertainment for observers.
   • 2020 July 10, CGP Grey, 3:55 from the start, in Supreme Court Rules on Faithless Electors in the Electoral College‎^[4]:

     And not at all about how a state picks which group of electors to send, which is the whole basis of the NaPoVoInterCo plan, and will yield plenty more Supreme Court popcorn if it ever gets enacted.

8. A slow Belgian style of soul music popular in the early 1960s.
9. A Romanian style of Europop popular in the late 2000s.

Derived terms

• cave popcorn
• grab the popcorn
• piss in the popcorn
• popcorn ceiling
• popcorn chicken
• popcorn effect
• popcorn film
• popcorn flower
• popcornless
• popcornlike
• popcorn lung
• popcorn movie
• popcorn noise
• popcorn pisser
• popcorn popper
• popcorn reading
• popcorn shrimp
• popcorn snow
• popcorn tea
• popdogs
• styrofoam popcorn

Descendants

Borrowed:

Descendants

• Georgian: პოპკორნი (ṗoṗḳorni)
• German: Popcorn
• Greek: ποπ κορν (pop korn), ποπκόρν (popkórn)
• Icelandic: poppkorn
• Japanese: ポップコーン (poppukōn)
• Korean: 팝콘 (papkon)
• Norwegian:
  • Bokmål: popkorn
  • Nynorsk: popkorn
• Polish: popcorn
• Russian: попко́рн (popkórn)
• Swedish: popcorn

Translations

a snack food made from corn kernels popped by dry heating

• Afrikaans: springmielie
• Albanian: kokoshka, pupagjel (sq) (Albania), palagaçe f, (Kosovo), kupaça f (central Kosovo), pucka f (southeastern Kosovo), kokoroshka f (northwestern Kosovo), kokica f (Prishtina), kupa f (northeastern Kosovo), pupacela (Northern Albania), laradasha(northwestern Albania)
• Arabic: فِشَار m (fišār), فُشَار (fušār)

  Gulf Arabic: نفيش (nuffēš)

  Hijazi Arabic: فِشار m (fišār)

• Armenian: ադի-բուդի (adi-budi)
• Azerbaijani: popkorn
• Belarusian: папко́рн m (papkórn)
• Bengali: পপকর্ন (popokorno), ভুট্টার খই (bhuṭṭar khoi)
• Bulgarian: пу́канки (bg) f pl (púkanki)
• Burmese: ပြောင်းဖူးပေါက်ပေါက် (praung:hpu:paukpauk)
• Catalan: crispeta (ca) f, rosa (ca) f, roseta f, gallet (ca) m, clotxa f, mongeta (ca) f
• Cebuano: papkorn
• Cherokee: ᏎᎷ ᎠᎾᏔᏍᎩᏍᎩ (selu anatasgisgi)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 爆穀 / 爆谷 (baau³ guk¹)

  Mandarin: 玉米花 (zh) (yùmǐhuā), 爆米花 (zh) (bàomǐhuā)

• Czech: popcorn (cs) m, popkorn m, pražená kukuřice f
• Danish: popcorn
• Dutch: gepofte maïs m, pof-maïs m, popcorn (nl) m
• Esperanto: krevmaizo (eo), pufmaizo
• Estonian: popkorn, plaksumais
• Finnish: popcorn (fi), paukkumaissi (fi), paahtomaissi
• French: popcorn (fr) m, maïs soufflé (fr) m, maïs éclaté (fr) m (Canadian French)
• Galician: floco de millo (gl) m
• Georgian: პოპკორნი (ṗoṗḳorni), ბატი-ბუტი (baṭi-buṭi)
• German: Popcorn (de) n, Puffmais m
• Greek: ποπ κορν n (pop korn)
• Gujarati: મકાઈની ધાણી (makāīnī dhāṇī), ફૂલી (phūlī)
• Hebrew: פּוֹפְּקוֹרְן (he) m (pópqor(e)n)
• Hindi: पॉपकॉर्न (pŏpkŏrn)
• Hungarian: pattogatott kukorica (hu)
• Icelandic: poppkorn n
• Ido: grilita maizo
• Indonesian: berondong jagung
• Irish: grán rósta m
• Italian: popcorn (it) m pl, mais scoppiato m, mais soffiato m
• Japanese: ポップコーン (ja) (poppukōn)
• Kazakh: попкорн (popkorn)
• Khmer: ពោតលីង (poot liing)
• Korean: 팝콘 (papkon)
• Kyrgyz: попкорн (popkorn)
• Lao: ຕອກແຕກ (tǭk tǣk)
• Latvian: popkorns m
• Lithuanian: popkornas m
• Macedonian: пуканки f pl (pukanki)
• Malay: bertih jagung
• Maori: kānga pāhūhū
• Marathi: लाह्या (lāhyā), मक्याच्या लाह्या (makyācyā lāhyā)
• Mongolian: эрдэнэ шиш (erdene šiš), дэмий яриа (demii jaria)
• Nahuatl: momochitl
• Navajo: naadą́ą́ʼ dilchxoshí, diltáłii
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: popkorn n

  Nynorsk: popkorn n

• Nubi: mberenge
• Pannonian Rusyn: пуканки f pl (pukanki)
• Persian: پف فیل (fa) (pofefil), چس فیل (fa) (čos-e fil), پاپکرن (pâpkorn)
• Plautdietsch: Poppkorn m
• Polish: popcorn (pl) m, prażona kukurydza f
• Pontic Greek: σπανούκα f (spanoúka)
• Portuguese: pipoca (pt) f
• Punjabi: ਫੁੱਲਾ m (phullā), ਖਿੱਲ f (khilla)
• Romanian: floricele de porumb (ro) f pl, cocoșei, pop-corn (ro)
• Russian: попко́рн (ru) m (popkórn)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: кокице f pl

  Roman: kokice (sh) f pl

• Slovak: pražená kukurica f, popkorn m
• Slovene: pokovka f
• Spanish: palomitas de maíz f pl (especially Costa Rica, El Salvador, Dominican Republic, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Spain), cabritas (es) f pl (Chile), cancha (es) f (Peru), canchita f (Peru), canguil (es) m (Ecuador), cotufas (es) f pl (Canary Islands, Venezuela), crispetas f pl (Colombia, north-central Mexico), esquites (es) m pl (northwestern Mexico), gallitos (es) m pl (northwestern Venezuela), maíz pira f (Colombia), millos (es) m pl (Panama), pipocas (es) f pl (Bolivia), pochoclos (es) m pl (Argentina, Uruguay), pop (es) m (Uruguay), popcorn (es) m (Panama, Puerto Rico), poporopos (es) m pl (Guatemala), pororó (es) m (eastern Bolivia, northern and western Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay), pururú (es) m (Northern Central Argentina), roscas f pl (Canary Islands), rosetas maiceras f pl (Puerto Rico, southern Spain), rositas de maíz f pl (Cuba), tostón m (southeastern Spain), ancua m or f, ezquites m pl, piras (es) f pl
• Swahili: bisi
• Swedish: popcorn (sv) n
• Tagalog: busang mais, binusang mais, papkorn
• Tajik: попкорн (popkorn)
• Tamil: சோளப்பொரி (ta) (cōḷappori)
• Thai: ป๊อปคอร์น (bpɔ́p-kɔɔn), ข้าวโพดคั่ว (kâao-pôot-kûua)
• Turkish: patlamış mısır, patlayan mısır
• Turkmen: popkorn
• Ukrainian: попко́рн m (popkórn)
• Uzbek: popkorn
• Venetan: móneghe (vec)
• Vietnamese: bắp rang (vi), bỏng ngô (vi)
• Welsh: popgorn m
• Yiddish: פּאַפּקאָרן (papkorn), קאָקאָשעס (kokoshes)

Verb

popcorn (third-person singular simple present popcorns, present participle popcorning, simple past and past participle popcorned)

1. (of a guinea pig or chinchilla) To stand or jump up quickly.
   • 2000, Dale L. Sigler, A Grown-up's Guide to Guinea Pigs, iUniverse, →ISBN, page 58:

     Popcorning behavior is a fun sight—as long as you know what it is. Otherwise, it can scare you. During this action a pig runs around very fast and suddenly leaps straight up in the air, twitching and squeaking. It then lands and takes off again, often in another direction. This activity shows pure joy. Babies start to popcorn when they are about two weeks old or so—they may try it earlier, but they usually fall down instead.

2. To pop repeatedly, like popcorn cooking.
3. (knitting, rare) To use the popcorn stitch.
   • 2008, Leisure Arts, I Can't Believe I'm Knitting Cables, page 9:

     You've been cabling, twisting, popcorning and bobbling. See, we told you that they weren't so hard.

Czech

Alternative forms

• popkorn

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈpopkorn]
• Hyphenation: pop‧corn

Noun

popcorn m inan

1. popcorn

Declension

Declension of popcorn (hard masculine inanimate)

	singular	plural
nominative	popcorn	popcorny
genitive	popcornu	popcornů
dative	popcornu	popcornům
accusative	popcorn	popcorny
vocative	popcorne	popcorny
locative	popcornu	popcornech
instrumental	popcornem	popcorny

Further reading

• “popcorn”, in Kartotéka Novočeského lexikálního archivu (in Czech)

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from English popcorn.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpɔp.kɔrn/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: pop‧corn

Noun

popcorn f or m or n (uncountable, no diminutive)

1. popcorn

   Synonym: pofmais

Finnish

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English popcorn.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpopkorn/, [ˈpo̞pko̞rn]
• Rhymes: -opkorn
• Syllabification^(key): pop‧corn
• Hyphenation^(key): pop‧corn

Noun

popcorn

1. popcorn

   Synonyms: paukkumaissi, paahtomaissi, poppari

Declension

Inflection of popcorn (Kotus type 5/risti, no gradation)
nominative		popcorn	popcornit
genitive		popcornin	popcornien
partitive		popcornia	popcorneja
illative		popcorniin	popcorneihin
		singular	plural
nominative		popcorn	popcornit
accusative	nom.	popcorn	popcornit
	gen.	popcornin
genitive		popcornin	popcornien
partitive		popcornia	popcorneja
inessive		popcornissa	popcorneissa
elative		popcornista	popcorneista
illative		popcorniin	popcorneihin
adessive		popcornilla	popcorneilla
ablative		popcornilta	popcorneilta
allative		popcornille	popcorneille
essive		popcornina	popcorneina
translative		popcorniksi	popcorneiksi
abessive		popcornitta	popcorneitta
instructive		—	popcornein
comitative		See the possessive forms below.

Possessive forms of popcorn (Kotus type 5/risti, no gradation)

first-person singular possessor singular plural nominative popcornini popcornini accusative nom. popcornini popcornini gen. popcornini genitive popcornini popcornieni partitive popcorniani popcornejani inessive popcornissani popcorneissani elative popcornistani popcorneistani illative popcorniini popcorneihini adessive popcornillani popcorneillani ablative popcorniltani popcorneiltani allative popcornilleni popcorneilleni essive popcorninani popcorneinani translative popcornikseni popcorneikseni abessive popcornittani popcorneittani instructive — — comitative — popcorneineni second-person singular possessor singular plural nominative popcornisi popcornisi accusative nom. popcornisi popcornisi gen. popcornisi genitive popcornisi popcorniesi partitive popcorniasi popcornejasi inessive popcornissasi popcorneissasi elative popcornistasi popcorneistasi illative popcorniisi popcorneihisi adessive popcornillasi popcorneillasi ablative popcorniltasi popcorneiltasi allative popcornillesi popcorneillesi essive popcorninasi popcorneinasi translative popcorniksesi popcorneiksesi abessive popcornittasi popcorneittasi instructive — — comitative — popcorneinesi first-person plural possessor singular plural nominative popcornimme popcornimme accusative nom. popcornimme popcornimme gen. popcornimme genitive popcornimme popcorniemme partitive popcorniamme popcornejamme inessive popcornissamme popcorneissamme elative popcornistamme popcorneistamme illative popcorniimme popcorneihimme adessive popcornillamme popcorneillamme ablative popcorniltamme popcorneiltamme allative popcornillemme popcorneillemme essive popcorninamme popcorneinamme translative popcorniksemme popcorneiksemme abessive popcornittamme popcorneittamme instructive — — comitative — popcorneinemme second-person plural possessor singular plural nominative popcorninne popcorninne accusative nom. popcorninne popcorninne gen. popcorninne genitive popcorninne popcornienne partitive popcornianne popcornejanne inessive popcornissanne popcorneissanne elative popcornistanne popcorneistanne illative popcorniinne popcorneihinne adessive popcornillanne popcorneillanne ablative popcorniltanne popcorneiltanne allative popcornillenne popcorneillenne essive popcorninanne popcorneinanne translative popcorniksenne popcorneiksenne abessive popcornittanne popcorneittanne instructive — — comitative — popcorneinenne third-person possessor singular plural nominative popcorninsa popcorninsa accusative nom. popcorninsa popcorninsa gen. popcorninsa genitive popcorninsa popcorniensa partitive popcorniaan popcorniansa popcornejaan popcornejansa inessive popcornissaan popcornissansa popcorneissaan popcorneissansa elative popcornistaan popcornistansa popcorneistaan popcorneistansa illative popcorniinsa popcorneihinsa adessive popcornillaan popcornillansa popcorneillaan popcorneillansa ablative popcorniltaan popcorniltansa popcorneiltaan popcorneiltansa allative popcornilleen popcornillensa popcorneilleen popcorneillensa essive popcorninaan popcorninansa popcorneinaan popcorneinansa translative popcornikseen popcorniksensa popcorneikseen popcorneiksensa abessive popcornittaan popcornittansa popcorneittaan popcorneittansa instructive — — comitative — popcorneineen popcorneinensa

Derived terms

compounds

• kattilapopcorn

Further reading

• “popcorn”, in Kielitoimiston sanakirja [Dictionary of Contemporary Finnish]‎^[5] (in Finnish) (online dictionary, continuously updated), Kotimaisten kielten keskuksen verkkojulkaisuja 35, Helsinki: Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus (Institute for the Languages of Finland), 2004–, retrieved 3 July 2023

French

Etymology

From English popcorn.

Pronunciation

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

  (file)

Noun

popcorn m (plural popcorns)

1. post-1990 spelling of pop-corn

Norwegian Bokmål

Noun

popcorn n (definite singular popcornet, uncountable)

1. alternative spelling of popkorn

References

• “popkorn” in Det Norske Akademis ordbok (NAOB).

Polish

popcorn

Etymology

Borrowed from English popcorn.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpɔp.kɔrn/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔpkɔrn
• Syllabification: pop‧corn

Noun

popcorn m inan

1. popcorn (snack food made from maize kernels popped by dry heating)

   Synonym: prażona kukurydza

Declension

Declension of popcorn

	singular
nominative	popcorn
genitive	popcornu
dative	popcornowi
accusative	popcorn
instrumental	popcornem
locative	popcornie
vocative	popcornie

Further reading

• popcorn in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• popcorn in Polish dictionaries at PWN
• popcorn in PWN's encyclopedia

Slovak

Alternative forms

• popkorn

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈpɔpkɔrn]

Noun

popcorn m inan (genitive singular popcornu, nominative plural popcorny, genitive plural popcornov, declension pattern of dub)

1. (proscribed) popcorn

   Synonym: (prescriptive) pukance

Declension

Declension of popcorn
(pattern dub)

	singular	plural
nominative	popcorn	popcorny
genitive	popcornu	popcornov
dative	popcornu	popcornom
accusative	popcorn	popcorny
locative	popcorne	popcornoch
instrumental	popcornom	popcornmi, popcornami

References

• “popcorn”, in Slovníkový portál Jazykovedného ústavu Ľ. Štúra SAV [Dictionary portal of the Ľ. Štúr Institute of Linguistics, Slovak Academy of Science] (in Slovak), https://slovnik.juls.savba.sk, 2003–2025

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpobkoɾn/ [ˈpoβ̞.koɾn]
• Rhymes: -obkoɾn
• Syllabification: pop‧corn

Noun

popcorn m (plural popcorns)

1. (Bolivia, Honduras, Panama, Puerto Rico, US, Uruguay) popcorn

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:palomita

Further reading

• “popcorn”, in Diccionario de americanismos [Dictionary of Americanisms] (in Spanish), Association of Academies of the Spanish Language [Spanish: Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española], 2010

Swedish

Etymology

From English popcorn. First attested in the early 1950s.

Noun

popcorn n

1. popcorn

   poppa popcorn

   pop/make popcorn

Declension

Declension of popcorn

		nominative	genitive
singular	indefinite	popcorn	popcorns
	definite	popcornet	popcornets
plural	indefinite	popcorn	popcorns
	definite	popcornen	popcornens

Derived terms

• popcornfilm

See also

• poppa

References

• popcorn in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• popcorn in Svensk ordbok (SO)