Meanings
plural seedtimes · alternative seed-time
- countableuncountableThe time to sow seeds.
Seed time and Harvest, Heat and hoary Frost Shall hold thir course
1667, John Milton, “Book X”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC - countablefigurativelyuncountableA time for new development.
Origin
- Proto-Germanic*sēdatīmô“seedtime”
- Proto-West Germanic*sādatīmō
- Old Englishsǣdtīma“time for sowing, season”
- Middle Englishseed tyme
- Englishseedtime
From Middle English seed tyme, from Old English sǣdtīma (“time for sowing, season”), from Proto-West Germanic *sādatīmō, from Proto-Germanic *sēdatīmô (“seedtime”), equivalent to seed + time. Cognate with Icelandic sáðtími (“sowing time, seedtime”). Compare also West Frisian siedtiid (“seedtime”), Dutch zaaitijd (“sowing time, seedtime”), German Saatzeit (“season for sowing seed”), Swedish såddtid (“sowing time, seedtime”), Faroese sáðtíð (“sowing time”), Old Norse sáðtíð (“April”, literally “seed time”).
More words from Middle English, Old English, Proto-West Germanic
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Finnish kylvöaika
- kylvöaikathe time to sow seeds
Irish aimsir an tsíl
- aimsir an tsílthe time to sow seeds
Cite this entry
seedtime. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/seedtime
“seedtime.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/seedtime. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “seedtime,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/seedtime.
Source: seedtime on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.