fallowness

Etymology

From fallow + -ness.

fallowness means the state or quality of being fallow. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 87 out of 100.

Why “fallowness” is a great word

FALLOWNESS — [Noun] The state or condition of being unused, uncultivated, or inactive. From Middle English falow (“plowed land left uncropped”) + the noun-forming suffix -ness. Unlike “dormancy,” which implies a temporary, seasonal suspension humming with latent life, or “idleness,” which carries the whiff of personal indolence, fallowness describes a deliberate, protracted, and neutral state of rest. It is the rich, brown earth resting between harvests; the profound stillness of a workshop bench after the tools have been put away; the mute potential of a piano with its lid closed. A necessary emptiness that is not a void, but a reservoir.

noun

The state or quality of being fallow.