fertile
adjUK /ˈfɜːtaɪl/ · US /ˈfɝːtəl/
Etymology From Middle English, from Middle French fertile, from Old French fertile, from Latin fertilis (“fruitful, fertile”), from ferō (“to bear, carry”).
1
Of land, etc.: capable of growing abundant crops; productive.
2
Figuratively Of one's imagination, etc.: active, productive, prolific.
3
Biology, Natural sciences Capable of reproducing; fecund, fruitful.
- Most women at the age of fifty are not fertile.
4
Biology, Natural sciences Capable of developing past the egg stage.
5
Natural sciences, Physical sciences, 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