corn pone
Plain cornbread, often baked in skillet cakes or loaves.
Also called cornpone, pone bread.
Updated September 21, 2026
corn pone pronunciation
/KORN pone/
Meaning
Cornmeal bread the old Southern way: simple batter, often without fancy extras, shaped into pones and baked or fried. Some folks use corn pone and cornbread almost alike. Others keep pone for the denser, plainer cakes cooked in a skillet or Dutch oven.
How folks use it
- “Mama fried corn pone in the iron skillet for supper.”
- “Hand me a pone of that cornbread before it's gone.”
Origin and etymology
Pone comes from Algonquian words for bread (Powhatan apan / apones and related forms), recorded by early Virginia colonists. Southern English kept it for cornmeal bread. DARE marks pone as chiefly South and South Midland.
Frequently asked questions
Is corn pone different from cornbread?
Sometimes. Cornbread can mean any cornmeal bread. Corn pone often points to the plainer skillet cakes. Plenty of families use both names for the same pan.