arable

[ar-uh-buh l]

See more synonyms for arable on Thesaurus.com

adjective

capable of producing crops; suitable for farming; suited to the plow and for tillage: arable land; arable soil.

noun

land that can be or is cultivated.

Origin of arable

1375–1425; < Latin arābilis, equivalent to arā(re) to plow + -bilis -ble; replacing late Middle English erable, equivalent to er(en) to plow (Old English erian) + -able -able

Related formsar·a·bil·i·ty, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for arable

cultivable, tillable

Examples from the Web for arable

Contemporary Examples of arable

Water, food and arable land will be more scarce, cities more crowded and hunger more widespread.
Pope Francis Is Wrong About My Child-Free Life
Amanda Marcotte
June 6, 2014
You will, by accident listening to the show, become an expert-not-really in matters of arable farming, organic crops, and milking.
America, Presenting Your New Addiction: ‘The Archers’
Tim Teeman
April 25, 2014

Historical Examples of arable

Tusser also describes this use of land alternately as pasture and arable.
The Enclosures in England
Harriett Bradley
This addition to the arable land has been a great boon to the people.
Life and Work in Benares and Kumaon, 1839-1877
James Kennedy
Out of the arable land he took only what was his due, and refused to take more.
The Forged Coupon and Other Stories
Leo Tolstoy
The quantity of cereals has increased in proportion to the arable land.
The Young Farmer: Some Things He Should Know
Thomas Forsyth Hunt
He gave them arable land to sow corn in, and let them apply their crops to their own use.
Erling the Bold
R.M. Ballantyne

British Dictionary definitions for arable

arable

adjective

(of land) being or capable of being tilled for the production of crops
of, relating to, or using such landarable farming

noun

arable land or farming

Word Origin for arable

C15: from Latin arābilis that can be ploughed, from arāre to plough

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for arable

adj.

early 15c., "suitable for plowing" (as opposed to pasture- or wood-land), from Old French arable (12c.), from Latin arabilis, from arare "to plow," from PIE *are- "to plow" (cf. Greek aroun, Old Church Slavonic orja, Lithuanian ariu "to plow;" Gothic arjan, Old English erian, Middle Irish airim, Welsh arddu "to plow;" Old Norse arþr "a plow"). Replaced by late 18c. native erable, from Old English erian "to plow," from the same PIE source.