arable
English
Etymology
From Middle English arable, from Old French arable, from Latin arābilis, formed from arō (“plow”) + -bilis (“able to be”). Cognate with earable (“arable”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈæɹəbl̩/
Adjective
arable (comparative more arable, superlative most arable)
- (agriculture, of land) Able to be plowed or tilled, capable of growing crops (traditionally contrasted with pasturable lands such as heaths).
- 1945 August 17, George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], chapter 6, in Animal Farm: A Fairy Story, London: Secker & Warburg, OCLC 3655473:
- And again, since no animal now stole, it was unnecessary to fence off pasture from arable land […]
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- (agriculture, NGO jargon, of land) Under cultivation (within any quinquennial period) for the production of crops sown and harvested within the same agricultural year (contrasted with permanently-cropped lands such as orchards).
Translations
suitable for cultivation
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French
Etymology
From Old French arable, from Latin arābilis.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /a.ʁabl/
Audio (file)
Further reading
- “arable” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).
Middle English
Etymology
Borrowed from Old French arable, borrowed itself from Latin arābilis.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /arˈaːbəl/, /ɛːrˈaːbəl/
References
- “arāble (adj.)” in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-10-03.
Old French
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