arable

English

Etymology

From Middle English arable, from Middle French 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 (Southern England)

  (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).
   • 1943 November – 1944 February (date written; published 1945 August 17), George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], chapter VI, in Animal Farm […], London: Secker & Warburg, published May 1962, →OCLC, page 50:

     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

• Azerbaijani: əkinəyararlı, əkinə yararlı
• 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
• Malayalam: കൃഷിയോഗ്യമായ (kr̥ṣiyōgyamāya)
• Maori: tāmata
• Middle English: arable, erable
• 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 (es), cultivable (es)
• Swedish: odlingsbar (sv)
• Turkish: tarıma elverişli

Anagrams

• Arbela, Barela, La Brea, ablare

French

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French arable, 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 [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Middle English

Alternative forms

• areable, arrable

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /arˈaːbəl/

Adjective

arable

1. (Late Middle English) arable

   Synonym: erable

Descendants

• English: arable

References

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

Old French

Etymology

From Latin arābilis.

Adjective

arable m (oblique and nominative feminine singular arable)

1. arable

Descendants

• Middle French: arable
  • French: arable
  • → Middle English: arable, areable, arrable
    • English: arable

Spanish

Etymology

From Latin arābilis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /aˈɾable/ [aˈɾa.β̞le]
• Rhymes: -able
• Syllabification: a‧ra‧ble

Adjective

arable m or f (masculine and feminine plural arables)

1. arable

Related terms

• arar

 

Further reading

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