arable
pronunciation
How to pronounce arable in British English:
UK [ˈærəbl]
How to pronounce arable in American English:
US [ˈærəbl]
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- Adjective:
- (of farmland) capable of being farmed productively
Word Origin
- 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" (cognates: 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"). By late 18c. it replaced native erable, from Old English erian "to plow," from the same PIE source.
Example
- 1. Arable farmers are struggling , too .
- 2. Land-poor china has effectively expanded its arable land by 39 % by outsourcing its farming to the americas .
- 3. The agriculture ministry says that only 22 % of potential arable land in a vast country is cultivated .
- 4. Corporations , investment funds and other nations with little land see vast potential in a continent which uses less than a quarter of its 500 million hectares of arable land .
- 5. Across africa and the developing world , a new global land rush is gobbling up large expanses of arable land .