Etymology

arable

A1R1A1B3L1E1

Today it means: Of land, able to be plowed or tilled, capable of growing crops (traditionally contrasted with pasturable lands such as heaths). Full definition →

Middle English arable ← Middle French arable ← Old French arable
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

The story

  1. Latin · derived fromarābilis
  2. Old French · derived fromarable
  3. Middle French · derived fromarable
  4. Middle English · inherited fromarable
  5. English todayarable

From Middle English arable, from Middle French arable, from Old French arable, from Latin arābilis, formed from arō (“plow”) + -bilis (“able to be”). Cognate with earable (“arable”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.