fecund

American  

[fee-kuhnd, -kuhnd, fek-uhnd, -uhnd] / ˈfi kʌnd, -kənd, ˈfɛk ʌnd, -ənd /

adjective

1. producing or capable of producing offspring, fruit, vegetation, etc., in abundance; prolific; fruitful.

   fecund parents; fecund farmland.

2. very productive or creative intellectually.

   the fecund years of the Italian Renaissance.

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fecund British  

/ ˈfiːkənd, ˈfɛk- /

adjective

1. greatly productive; fertile

2. intellectually productive; prolific

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Other Word Forms

• nonfecund
  adjective
• unfecund
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of fecund

1375–1425; late Middle English < Latin fēcundus, equivalent to fē- ( see fetus) + -cundus adj. suffix; replacing late Middle English fecounde < Anglo-French

Explanation

The adjective fecund describes things that are highly fertile and that easily produce offspring or fruit. Rabbits are often considered to be fecund animals, and you may hear jokes in poor taste about people reproducing like rabbits if they have a lot of children. The word fecund comes from the Latin word fecundus, meaning fruitful. But the English word does not just describe something or someone fertile, the adjective fecund can also be used to describe someone who is innovative or highly intellectually productive. Your fecund imagination will be an asset if you have to tell ghost stories around the fire at camp while eating s'mores but that same fecund imagination could be less helpful if you're at home alone on a stormy night and you think you hear a knock at the door!

Example Sentences

“I don’t think it’s possible to have a conversation about figuration without going back to this very fecund moment of Black artistic development.”

From New York Times • Feb. 18, 2024

The idea, in theory, is that all of these economic policies, when combined with the party’s traditional social conservatism, will make it easier for regular working folks to thrive and be fecund.

From Slate • Jan. 11, 2024

This period — one of the most breathtakingly fecund in the history of the American theater — was assisted by regional theater tours that gave him time to hone his plays before they hit Broadway.

From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 11, 2023

Giant clouds like this are relatively rare but crank out stars on an industrial scale, while the smaller clouds are less fecund but litter the galaxy.

From Scientific American • Apr. 24, 2023

The trolley even smelled damp, like the woods after rain, fecund and rich.

From "Ophie's Ghosts" by Justina Ireland