fecund
English
WOTD – 30 July 2009
Alternative forms
- fœcund (hypercorrect, obsolete)
Etymology
From Middle French fécond, from Latin fēcundus (“fertile”), which is related to fētus and fēmina (“woman”).
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈfɛk.ənd/
Audio (UK) (file)
- (General American) IPA(key): /ˈfi.kənd/
- Rhymes: -ɛkənd, -iːkənd
Adjective
fecund (comparative more fecund, superlative most fecund)
- (formal) Highly fertile; able to produce offspring.
- Synonyms: battle, (archaic) childing
- 2001, Massimo Livi Bacci, A Concise History of World Population, page 9:
- The number of children per woman depends, as has been said, on biological and social factors which determine: (1) the frequency of births during a woman's fecund period, and (2) the portion of the fecund period--between puberty and menopause--effectively utilized for reproduction.
- 2014 December 23, Olivia Judson, “The hemiparasite season [print version: Under the hemiparasite, International New York Times, 24–25 December 2014, p. 7]”, in The New York Times:
- The druids […] believed that mistletoe could make barren animals fecund, and that it was an antidote to all poisons.
- (figuratively) Leading to new ideas or innovation.
- Synonyms: fertile, productive, prolific
- 1906, Charles Sanders Peirce, "The Basis of Pragmatism in the Normative Sciences", in The Essential Peirce: Selected Philosophical Writings, volume II, page 373
- This idea of Aristotle's has proved marvellously fecund; and in truth it is the only idea covering quite the whole area of cenoscopy that has shown any marked uberosity.
Related terms
- fecundity
Translations
highly fertile; able to produce offspring
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leading to new ideas or innovation
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Catalan
Etymology
From Latin fēcundus.
Pronunciation
- (Balearic) IPA(key): /fəˈkunt/
- (Central) IPA(key): /fəˈkun/
- (Valencian) IPA(key): /feˈkunt/
Adjective
fecund (feminine fecunda, masculine plural fecunds, feminine plural fecundes)
- fruitful
- fertile
- Synonym: fèrtil
Derived terms
- fecundament
Related terms
- fecundar
- fecunditat
Further reading
- “fecund” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
- “fecund”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2023
- “fecund” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
- “fecund” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.
Romanian
Etymology
From French fécond, from Latin fecundus.
Adjective
fecund m or n (feminine singular fecundă, masculine plural fecunzi, feminine and neuter plural fecunde)
- fruitful
Declension
Declension of fecund
singular | plural | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
masculine | neuter | feminine | masculine | neuter | feminine | ||
nominative/ accusative | indefinite | fecund | fecundă | fecunzi | fecunde | ||
definite | fecundul | fecunda | fecunzii | fecundele | |||
genitive/ dative | indefinite | fecund | fecunde | fecunzi | fecunde | ||
definite | fecundului | fecundei | fecunzilor | fecundelor |
Related terms
- fecunda
- fecunditate