The root system of a corn plant, or a disease affecting the roots of corn crops.
From 'corn' plus 'root.' This compound term is used both literally to describe the botanical structure of corn plants and more commonly to refer to cornroot rot, a fungal disease that has plagued corn farmers for centuries.
Cornroot rot was such a devastating historical problem that its study essentially launched modern plant pathology as a science—farmers couldn't breed resistant corn without understanding what killed the roots, creating demand for microscopic investigation of fungal diseases!
Complete word intelligence in one call. Free tier — 50 lookups/day.