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arable

 - 3 dictionary results

ar⋅a⋅ble

  [ar-uh-buhl]
Use arable in a Sentence
–adjective
1. capable of producing crops; suitable for farming; suited to the plow and for tillage: arable land; arable soil.
–noun
2. land that can be or is cultivated.
Origin:
1375–1425; < L arābilis, equiv. to arā(re) to plow + -bilis -ble; r. late ME erable, equiv. to er(en) to plow (OE erian) + -able -able

Related forms:
ar⋅a⋅bil⋅i⋅ty, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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ar·a·ble   (ār'ə-bəl)   
adj.  Fit for cultivation, as by plowing.
n.  Land fit to be cultivated.

[Middle English, from Old French, from Latin arābilis, from arāre, to plow.]
ar'a·bil'i·ty n.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

arable 
c.1410, "capable of being plowed" (as opposed to pasture- or wood-land), from O.Fr. arable, from L. arabilis, from arare "to plow," from PIE *are- "to plow" (cf. Gk. aroun, O.C.S. orja, Lith. ariu "to plow;" Goth. arjan, O.E. erian, M.Ir. airim, Welsh arddu "to plow;" O.N. arþr "a plow"). Replaced native erable, from O.E. erian "to plow."
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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