fertile

See also: Fertile

English

Etymology

From 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)

• Homophones: firtle, furtle (one US pronunciation)

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

• cross-fertile
• equifertile
• fertile as a turtle
• Fertile Belt
• Fertile Crescent
• fertilely
• Fertile Valley
• fertiloscope
• fertiloscopy
• hyperfertile
• hypofertile
• interfertile
• nonfertile
• overfertile
• postfertile
• prefertile
• self-fertile
• semifertile
• superfertile
• unfertile

Related terms

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

Translations

of land, etc.: capable of growing abundant crops

Albanian: begat (sq), pjell (sq) 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) Esperanto: fekunda 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 Italian: fertile (it) Japanese: 肥沃な (ja) (hiyoku na) Kazakh: құнарлы (qūnarly), құйқалы (qūiqaly), шұрайлы (şūraily), құтты (qūtty) 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), بارور (fa) (bārvar), برور (barvar) Plautdietsch: fruchtboa Polish: żyzny (pl), urodzajny (pl), owocodajny 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

Albanian: pjellore 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) Italian: fertile (it) Malay: subur (ms) Polish: bujny (pl) Portuguese: fértil (pt) Slovene: ploden (sl) Spanish: fértil (es) Turkish: üretken (tr)

capable of reproducing

Albanian: pjellore 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.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “fertile”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
• “fertile”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Anagrams

• firelet

French

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin fertilis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fɛʁ.til/

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

Adjective

fertile (plural fertiles)

1. fertile

   Antonym: stérile

Derived terms

• fertilité
• 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 m or f by sense (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