tilth

English

Etymology

From Middle English tilthe, from Old English tilþ, tilþe, corresponding to till +‎ -th.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tɪlθ/
• Rhymes: -ɪlθ

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

Noun

tilth (countable and uncountable, plural tilths)

1. Agricultural labour; husbandry.
2. The state of being tilled, or prepared for a crop; culture.

   The land is in good tilth and ready to plant.

3. Cultivated land
   • 1945, J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lay of Aotrou and Itroun, HarperCollins, published 2019, →ISBN, page 11:

     Escaped from thicket and from fen at last he saw the tilth of men.

4. Rich cultivated soil.
   • 1954, Doris Lessing, A Proper Marriage, HarperPerennial, published 1995, page 333:

     One morning she was kneeling on an old grain sack on the wet black soil, turning the thick rich tilth over and smoothing it ready for the new lettuces.

Derived terms

• earth-tilth

 

Related terms

• till
• tillage

Translations

agricultural labour; husbandry

• Bulgarian: земеделие (bg) n (zemedelie)
• Hungarian: földművelés (hu), művelés (hu), megművelés (hu), talajlazítás, talajporhanyítás, talajjavítás (hu)

the state of being tilled

• Bulgarian: разораване n (razoravane)
• French: ameublissement (fr)
• Georgian: ხნული (xnuli), ნახნავი (naxnavi)
• Hungarian: porhanyósság, lazultság
• Russian: обрабо́тка по́чвы (obrabótka póčvy)

rich, cultivated soil

Middle English

Noun

tilth

1. Alternative form of tilthe