Arables

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Land suitable for cultivation and farming practices
2. A type of soil or field where crops can be grown effectively
3. Describing agricultural land that is capable of producing crops and supports farming activities

Etymology: "Arables" is simply the plural of "arable," so it refers to several tracts of land suitable for ploughing and growing crops. The singular "arable" traces back to Latin "arābilis," built from "arō," meaning "to plough," and the suffix "-bilis," meaning "able to be" or "capable of being." Put together, the word describes land that can be ploughed. The path into English ran through Old French, where "arable" was already in use, and then into Middle English. The English word thus carries the same agricultural core that its Latin ancestor did, with the ploughing sense still visible in its structure. An older English cousin, "earable," shows that the word once had a different spelling in the language, though the two have always meant the same thing.

Synonyms: farmlands, croplands, fields, ploughlands

Antonyms: wastelands, barren lands, deserts