bamboo vs culm

bamboo

noun
  • A fast-growing grass of the Bambusoideae subfamily, characterised by its woody, hollow, round, straight, jointed stem. 

  • A didgeridoo. 

  • The wood of the bamboo plant as a material for building, furniture, etc. 

  • A stick, rod, pole, or cane of bamboo, especially one used for corporal punishment. 

  • A member of the British military or British East India Company who spent so much time in Indonesia, India, or Malaysia that they never went back home. 

adj
  • Made of the wood of the bamboo. 

verb
  • To flog with a bamboo cane. 

  • To penetrate sexually. 

  • To paint (furniture, etc.) to give it the appearance of bamboo. 

culm

noun
  • the stem of a plant, especially of grass or sedge 

  • anthracite, especially when found in small masses 

  • waste coal, used as a poor quality fuel; slack. 

How often have the words bamboo and culm occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )