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/

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

Adjective

arable (comparative more arable, superlative most arable)

1. (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 […]

2. (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).

Antonyms

• inarable

Translations

suitable for cultivation

• Bulgarian: орна (bg) (orna)
• Catalan: cultivable
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 可耕的 (kě gēng de), (arable land) 耕地 (zh) (gēngdì)

• Czech: orný (cs) m
• Danish: dyrkbar
• Dutch: bebouwbaar (nl)
• Esperanto: kultivebla
• Finnish: viljelyskelpoinen
• French: arable (fr), cultivable (fr)
• German: bebaubar, anbaufähig, urbar (de)
• Hungarian: művelhető (hu)
• Indonesian: layak tanam

• Interlingua: arabile
• Irish: arúil
• Italian: arabile
• Latin: arvus
• Maori: tāmata
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: dyrkbar

  Nynorsk: dyrkbar

• Polish: orny (pl) m
• Portuguese: arável, agricultável (pt)
• Romanian: arabil (ro) m or n
• Russian: па́хотный (ru) (páxotnyj)
• Spanish: arable, cultivable (es)
• Swedish: odlingsbar

Anagrams

• Arbela, Barela, La Brea, ablare

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French

Etymology

From Old French arable, from Latin arābilis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /a.ʁabl/

• Audio

  (file)

Adjective

arable (plural arables)

1. arable

Further reading

• “arable” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

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Middle English

Alternative forms

• areable, erable

Etymology

Borrowed from Old French arable, borrowed itself from Latin arābilis. Equivalent to Old French arer +‎ -able.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /arˈaːbəl/, /ɛːrˈaːbəl/

Adjective

arable

1. (Late Middle English) arable

Descendants

• English: arable, earable

References

• “arāble, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-10-03.

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Old French

Etymology

From Latin arābilis.

Adjective

arable m (oblique and nominative feminine singular arable)

1. arable

Descendants

• → Middle English: arable, areable, erable
  • English: arable, earable

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Spanish

Etymology

From Latin arābilis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /aˈɾable/, [aˈɾa.β̞le]

Adjective

arable (plural arables)

1. arable

Related terms

• arar

Further reading

• “arable” in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014.