fallow means ploughed but left unseeded for more than one planting season. It carries an Arena rating of 1356, earned across 3 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, fallow ranks #2,309 of 14,431 for Most Betrayed by Its Sound, #2,319 of 14,444 for Most Exacting Words, #2,350 of 14,448 for Most Incisive Words, #2,574 of 14,448 for Funniest Words.
fallow is pronounced /ˈfæləʊ/.
Why “fallow” is a great word
Of land that has been ploughed and tilled but left unsown for a period to restore its fertility. From Middle English *falwe*, from Old English *fealh, fealg* ("fallow land"), from Proto-West Germanic *falgu*, from Proto-Indo-European *polḱéh₂* ("arable land"), first attested c. 1300. Unlike "dormant," which suggests a passive, inherent pause, or "barren," which implies a permanent and desolate infertility, fallow describes a deliberate and generative silence. It is the dark earth turned but unseeded, the cold soil glistening under a winter sun, the quiet hum of microbes reweaving fertility in the dark—the land not abandoned, but held in patient, working rest, a testament that what is empty is often fullest of purpose.
Etymology
[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)).
adj
- Ploughed but left unseeded for more than one planting season.
- Left unworked and uncropped for some amount of time.
- Inactive; undeveloped.e.g.“a fallow period in one's career”
- Of a pale red or yellow, light brown; dun.e.g.“a fallow deer or greyhound”
noun
- Ground ploughed and harrowed but left unseeded for one year.
- Uncultivated land.
- The ploughing or tilling of land, without sowing it for a season.e.g.“By a complete summer fallow, land is rendered tender and mellow. The fallow gives it a better tilth than can be given by a fallow crop.”
verb
- To make land fallow for agricultural purposes.
Words closest in meaning
By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.
- fallowness 86% match — The state or quality of being fallow. vs fallow →
- earsh 83% match — stubble field. vs fallow →
- barren 82% match — Not bearing children, childless; hence also unable to bear children, sterile. vs fallow →
- meadow 82% match — A field or pasture; a piece of land either intentionally cultivated with grass or (especially) naturally covered with grass, especially one that is intended to be mown for hay or to be grazed. vs fallow →
- seedtime 82% match — The time to sow seeds. vs fallow →
- tilth 81% match — Agricultural labour; husbandry. vs fallow →
- leasow 81% match — (Green) land as opposed to flood or desert; a pasture. vs fallow →
- swidden 81% match — An area of land that has been cleared by cutting the vegetation and burning it; slash and burn. vs fallow →