Inherited from Old Galician-Portuguese milho, from Latin milium 'millet'. In the 17th-19th century the name passed to be applied to a new crop, the American maize, whilst millet became known as millo miúdo (literally 'little maize').

Xavier Varela Barreiro, Xavier Gómez Guinovart (2006–2018) Corpus Xelmírez - Corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval, Santiago de Compostela: ILG
Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, editor (2006–2013) Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega, Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, editors (2003–2018) Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega, Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
Rosario Álvarez Blanco, editor (2014–2024) Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués, Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega,

Blend of paínzo 'foxtail millet' +‎ maíz 'maize'

from Latin milium'millet'

from Latin milium 'millet'

mălai also means 'cornflour', (regional) 'millet flour', 'any cereal', 'cornbread' , 'plant Luzula pilosa, Luzula campestris, Kochia (Bassia)'

Possibly from Late Dacian *mellája, from Dacian *melwá-ja, from Proto-Indo-European *melh₂-wo-yo- 'consisting of flour', from *melh₂-wo- 'flour', from *melh₂- 'to grind', or some other Paleo-Balkanic substrate. Other theories include Latin amylum + the suffix -alium. More likely is some connection with mămăligă, perhaps through contraction of a variant *mămălaie.

Inherited from Late Latin pānīcium, from Latin pānīcum 'foxtail millet', from pānus 'ear of millet'

From Ottoman Turkish darı, from Proto-Turkic *tạrï-g (“millet