agr-

Agr– is a combining form used like a prefix meaning “field,” “soil,” or “crop production.” It is very occasionally used in technical terms, especially in agriculture.

Agr– is a variant of agro– (from Greek agrós, “tilled land”) or agri– (extracted from agriculture and rooted in the Latin ager, “field”), which loses their –o– or –i-, respectively, when combined with words or word elements beginning with vowels.

Want to know more? Read our Words That Use articles for agro– and agri–.

One example of a term that features the form agr– is agrestal, “of or relating to plants growing wild in fields and uncultivated areas.” Agrestal comes from Latin agrestis, which uses the equivalent of agr– in that language.

The form agr– means “field,” as we have seen. The –estal part of the word altogether means “belonging to” or “pertaining to.” Agrestal literally translates to “belonging to the field.”

What are some words that use the equivalent of the combining form agr– in Latin?

• agrarian
• agrarianism
• agrestic

What are some other forms that agr– may be commonly confused with?

• ag-
• aer-
• aero-

Not every word that begins with the exact letters agr-, such as agria and agrodolce, is necessarily using the combining form agr– to denote “field.” Learn why agrodolce means “sweet-and-sour” at our entry for the word.

The word agrarian is an adjective. Given the meaning of agr-, what does agrarian mean?