fertile

See also: Fertile

English

Etymology

Middle English, from Middle French fertile, from Old French fertile, from Latin fertilis (“fruitful, fertile”), from ferō (“I bear, carry”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈfɜːtaɪl/, /ˈfɜːtəl/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈfɝːtəl/, /ˈfɝːtaɪl/
• (Canada) IPA^(key): /ˈfɝːtaɪl/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Adjective

fertile (comparative more fertile, superlative most fertile)

1. Of land, etc.: capable of growing abundant crops; productive.
2. (figuratively) Of one's imagination, etc.: active, productive, prolific.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:productive

3. (biology)
   1. Capable of reproducing; fecund, fruitful.

      Synonym: (archaic) childing

      Antonyms: barren, infertile, sterile

      Most women at the age of fifty are not fertile.

   2. Capable of developing past the egg stage.
4. (physics) Not itself fissile, but able to be converted into a fissile material by irradiation in a reactor.

   There are two basic fertile materials: uranium-238 and thorium-232.

Derived terms

• fertile as a turtle
• Fertile Valley
• self-fertile

 

Related terms

• fertilisation, fertilization
• fertilise, fertilize
• fertiliser, fertilizer
• fertility, fertileness
• subfertile

Translations

of land, etc.: capable of growing abundant crops

• Arabic: خَصِب (ḵaṣib)
• Asturian: fértil
• Azerbaijani: münbit, məhsuldar, bərəkətli
• Basque: emankor (eu)
• Breton: strujus (br)
• Bulgarian: плодороден (bg) (plodoroden)
• Catalan: fèrtil (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 肥沃 (zh) (féiwò)

• Czech: úrodný (cs) m
• Danish: frugtbar (da)
• Dutch: vruchtbaar (nl)
• Finnish: viljava (fi), hedelmällinen (fi)
• French: fertile (fr)
• Galician: fértil (gl)
• Georgian: ნოყიერი (noq̇ieri)
• German: fruchtbar (de), geil (de)
• Greek:

  Ancient: γόνιμος (gónimos)

• Hindi: उपजाऊ (hi) (upjāū)
• Hungarian: termékeny (hu)
• Ido: fertila (io)
• Indonesian: subur (id)
• Irish: torthúil, méiniúil, arúil, méith
• Japanese: 肥沃な (ja) (hiyoku na)
• Korean: 걸다 (ko) (geolda), 비옥(肥沃)하다 (biokhada)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: بەپیت (bepît)

• Latin: ferax, fēcundus, fertilis
• Latvian: auglīgs, ražīgs
• Lithuanian: derlingas
• Malay: subur (ms)
• Maori: haumako, mōmona
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: fruktbar (no)

  Nynorsk: fruktbar

• Old English: wæstmbǣre
• Persian: حاصلخیز (fa)
• Plautdietsch: fruchtboa
• Polish: żyzny (pl)
• Portuguese: fértil (pt)
• Russian: плодоро́дный (ru) (plodoródnyj)
• Slovene: ploden (sl), plodovit
• Spanish: fértil (es), feraz (es)
• Swedish: bördig (sv)
• Thai: อุดมสมบูรณ์, อุดม (th) (ù-dom), สมบูรณ์ (th) (sǒm-buun)
• Turkish: verimli (tr), bitek (tr), mahsuldar (tr), feyyaz (tr), gür (tr)
• Ukrainian: родю́чий (uk) (rodjúčyj)
• Urdu: زرخیز (zarxaiz)
• Vietnamese: màu mỡ (vi)
• Yiddish: פֿרוכטבאַר (frukhtbar)
• Zazaki: mexel, xesad n

of one’s imagination, etc.: active, productive, prolific

• Basque: emankor (eu)
• Bulgarian: богат (bg) (bogat)
• Catalan: fèrtil (ca)
• Danish: frugtbar (da)
• Finnish: tuottelias (fi), vilkas (fi)
• French: fertile (fr)
• Galician: fértil (gl)
• Ido: fertila (io)
• Malay: subur (ms)
• Polish: bujny (pl)
• Portuguese: fértil (pt)
• Slovene: ploden (sl)
• Spanish: fértil (es)
• Turkish: üretken (tr)

capable of reproducing

• Arabic: خَصِب (ḵaṣib)
• Asturian: fértil
• Basque: ugalkor (eu), emankor (eu)
• Bulgarian: плодовит (bg) (plodovit)
• Catalan: fèrtil (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 能生育的 (néng shēngyù de)

• Czech: plodný (cs) m
• Danish: frugtbar (da)
• Esperanto: fekunda
• Finnish: hedelmällinen (fi)
• French: fertile (fr)
• Galician: fértil (gl)
• German: fruchtbar (de)
• Greek:

  Ancient: γόνιμος (gónimos)

• Ido: fertila (io)
• Irish: torthúil, méith
• Latin: ferax, fēcundus, fertilis
• Latvian: auglīgs, vaislīgs
• Lithuanian: vaisingas
• Malay: subur (ms)
• Maori: matahua, pukuhua
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: fruktbar (no)

  Nynorsk: fruktbar

• Old English: wæstmbǣre
• Polish: płodny (pl)
• Portuguese: fértil (pt)
• Romanian: fertil (ro)
• Slovene: ploden (sl)
• Spanish: fértil (es)
• Swedish: fertil (sv)
• Turkish: doğurgan (tr), üretken (tr)
• Zazaki: awregan f

capable of developing past the egg stage

• Bulgarian: оплоден (bg) (oploden)
• Finnish: hedelmöitynyt (fi)
• Ido: fertila (io)
• Slovene: oplojen
• Zazaki: pungal

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Italian: (1, 2, 4) ^{(please verify)} fertile (it)
• Lithuanian: ^{(please verify)} vaisinga, ^{(please verify)} vaisingas
• Persian: ^{(please verify)} باردار (fa) (bârdâr)
• Turkish: ^{(please verify)} bereketli (tr), ^{(please verify)} verimli (tr)
• Ukrainian: ^{(please verify)} родючий (uk) (rodjučyj), ^{(please verify)} родюча земля (rodjuča zemlja)

Further reading

• “fertile”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “fertile”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “fertile”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Anagrams

• firelet

French

Etymology

From Latin fertilem.

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Adjective

fertile (plural fertiles)

1. fertile

Derived terms

• Croissant fertile

Further reading

• “fertile”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Anagrams

• flétrie
• flirtée

Italian

Etymology

From Latin fertilem.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfɛr.ti.le/
• Rhymes: -ɛrtile
• Hyphenation: fèr‧ti‧le

• Audio:

  (file)

Adjective

fertile (plural fertili)

1. fertile

   Antonym: infertile

Derived terms

• fertilizzare
• fertilmente

Related terms

• fertilità

See also

• fecondo

Further reading

• fertile in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

Latin

Adjective

fertile

1. nominative/accusative/vocative neuter singular of fertilis