Fruitfulness

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The quality or state of producing abundant results, benefits, or offspring in great quantity or measure
2. The capacity to yield plentiful outcomes, progeny, or beneficial consequences in generous abundance
3. The state of being highly productive and generative, creating numerous positive results or offspring abundantly

Etymology: Fruitfulness is a straightforward formation: the adjective "fruitful" with the suffix "-ness" added to turn a quality into a noun. "Fruitful" itself is an English compound of "fruit" and "-ful," the suffix meaning "full of," so the word literally describes the state of being full of fruit, then extended to any abundance of results. The suffix "-ness" has a long pedigree. It descends from Old English "-nes," which in turn traces back through Proto-Germanic forms to a Proto-Indo-European root, and it was attached freely to native adjectives for centuries. That is why English can take almost any adjective and produce a noun for the quality it names, and why "fruitfulness" needed no special coinage: it is a regular product of a productive pattern in the language.

Synonyms: productivity, fertility, richness, abundance, plentifulness

Antonyms: barrenness, sterility, unproductiveness, emptiness, lack