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Added 9 October 2026

fallow

/ˈfæləʊ/ noun

In Latin: vervactum Wiktionary

noun Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about fallow at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

Ground ploughed and harrowed but left unseeded for one year.
Uncultivated land.
The ploughing or tilling of land, without sowing it for a season.

adjective

Ploughed but left unseeded for more than one planting season.
Left unworked and uncropped for some amount of time.
Inactive; undeveloped.
a fallow period in one's career

verb

To make land fallow for agricultural purposes.

adjective

Of a pale red or yellow, light brown; dun.
a fallow deer or greyhound

Origin

[Alt: A photograph of a ploughed field.] From Middle English falwe, from Old English fealh, fealg (“fallow land”), from Proto-West Germanic *falgu (compare Saterland Frisian Falge, West Frisian falig, felling, Dutch valg, German Felge), from Proto-Indo-European *polḱéh₂ (“arable land”) (compare Gaulish olca, Russian полоса́ (polosá)).

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

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