fallow

English

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA: /ˈfæləʊ/, SAMPA: /"f{l@U/
• (US) enPR: fălʹō, IPA: /ˈfæloʊ/, SAMPA: /"f{loU/
• Rhymes: -æləʊ

Etymology 1

From Middle English falow, from Old English fealh 'fallow land', from Proto-Germanic *falhaz (cf. East Frisian falge, German Felge), from Proto-Indo-European *polk̑éhₐ 'arable land' (cf. Gaulish olca, Russian polosá).

Noun

fallow (countable and uncountable; plural fallows)

1. (agriculture, uncountable) Ground ploughed and harrowed but left unseeded for one year.
2. (agriculture, uncountable) Uncultivated land.
3. (agriculture, obsolete, countable) An area of fallow land.

Derived terms

bastard fallow cropped fallow dead-fallow ecofallow fallow-break fallow crop fallow-field fallow ground

fallowist fallow land green fallow pin-fallow rag-fallow summer fallow winter fallow

Translations

ground left unseeded for a year

Czech: úhor (cs) m. Finnish: kesanto (fi) French: jachère (fr) f. Galician: barbeito (gl) Polish: ugór m.

Portuguese: barbeito (pt) Russian: пар (par) m. Slovak: úhor (sk) m., prieloh (sk) m. Spanish: barbecho (es), guamil (es) m.

uncultivated land

Czech: lada (cs) n. pl., lado (cs) n. Finnish: joutomaa (fi), viljelemätön (fi) maa (fi) French: friche (fr) f. German: Brache f., Brachland n.

Hungarian: ugar (hu), parlag (hu) Luxembourgish: Brooch (lb) f. Polish: ugór m. Russian: пар (par) m.

obsolete: an area of fallow land

Finnish: kesanto (fi) Polish: ugór m.

Russian: пар (par) m.

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

Albanian: ugar m. Catalan: guaret m. Serbo-Croatian: ugar m. Italian: maggese m. Romanian: ogor f. and m. Slovak: úhor m. Spanish: yermo m.

Adjective

fallow

1. (of agricultural land) Ploughed but left unseeded for more than one planting season.
2. Inactive; undeveloped.

Derived terms

• apple-fallow
• fallow chat
• fallow deer
• fallow finch
• fallowness
• lay fallow
• lie fallow

Translations

of land, left unseeded

Finnish: kesannolla oleva, kesannoitu French: en jachère, en friche

German: brach, brachliegend Irish: fódbhán (ga)

inactive, undeveloped

Finnish: joutilas (fi), kehittymätön (fi), laiska (fi)

French: en friche

Verb

fallow (third-person singular simple present fallows, present participle fallowing, simple past and past participle fallowed)

1. (transitive) To make land fallow for agricultural purposes.

Derived terms

• fallowed
• fallowing
• re-fallow
• thry-fallow
• trifallow
• twifallow, twyfallow

Translations

plough land without sowing seeds

Finnish: kesannoida (fi) German: brachlegen

Italian: maggesare (it)

Etymology 2

From Middle English falwe, from Old English fealu, from Proto-Germanic *falwaz (cf. West Frisian feal, Dutch vaal, German falb, fahl), from Proto-Indo-European *polʷos (cf. Lithuanian pal̃vas 'sallow, wan', Serbo-Croatian plâv 'blond, blue', Ancient Greek πολιός (poliós) 'grey'), from Proto-Indo-European *pel- 'pale'.

Adjective

fallow (comparative more fallow, superlative most fallow)

1. A pale red or yellow, light brown; dun.

Related terms

• fallow deer

Translations

light brown; dun

German: falb

References

• “fallow” in the Online Etymology Dictionary, Douglas Harper, 2001