fruitful

English

Alternative forms

• fruitfull (archaic)

Etymology

From Middle English fruitefull, equivalent to fruit +‎ -ful. Compare Dutch vruchtvol, German fruchtvoll, Swedish fruktfull.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfɹuːtfəl/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: fruit‧ful

Adjective

fruitful (comparative more fruitful, superlative most fruitful)

1. Favourable to the growth of fruit or useful vegetation; not barren.

   Synonyms: fructive, fructuous

   Antonyms: barren, infertile, unfruitful

   Hypernym: fertile

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Genesis 1:22:

     And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.

2. Being productive in any sense; yielding benefits.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:productive

   Antonym: unfruitful

   The extra work in the office turned out to be fruitful after all—I got promoted

Synonyms

• fruitious (obsolete)

Related terms

• fruitfully
• fruitfulness

Translations

favorable to the growth

• Basque: emankor (eu)
• Bulgarian: плодоро́ден (bg) (plodoróden)
• Danish: frugtbar (da)
• Dutch: vruchtbaar (nl)
• Esperanto: fruktoporta
• Estonian: viljakas
• Finnish: viljava (fi), hedelmällinen (fi)
• Georgian: ნაყოფიერი (naq̇opieri)
• German: fruchtbar (de)
• Greek: εύφορος (el) m (éfforos)
• Ido: fruktifanta (io)
• Irish: torthúil, méiniúil, méith
• Italian: fertile (it)
• Latin: ferax
• Latvian: rasmīgs (poetic), auglīgs, ražīgs
• Maori: oho
• Norwegian: fruktbar (no)
• Plautdietsch: fruchtboa
• Portuguese: fértil (pt), frutífero (pt) m
• Romanian: roditor (ro), rodnic (ro), fertil (ro)
• Russian: плодоно́сный (ru) (plodonósnyj) (about plants), плодоро́дный (ru) (plodoródnyj) (about soil)
• Slovene: rodoviten
• Spanish: fértil (es)
• Telugu: ఫలవంతము (te) (phalavantamu)
• Ukrainian: плі́дний (plídnyj), плодови́тий (plodovýtyj), плодоно́сний (plodonósnyj)

productive, yielding benefits

• Basque: emankor (eu)
• Bulgarian: плодовит (bg) (plodovit), плодотворен (plodotvoren)
• Danish: frugtbar (da)
• Dutch: vruchtbaar (nl)
• Esperanto: fruktoporta
• Estonian: viljakas
• Finnish: viljava (fi), antoisa (fi)
• French: fructueux (fr)
• German: fruchtbar (de)
• Greek: καρποφόρος (el) m (karpofóros)

  Ancient: καρπόφορος (karpóphoros)

• Ingrian: tulokas
• Italian: proficuo (it) m, fruttuoso (it) m, produttivo (it)
• Latin: fēcundus
• Latvian: produktīvs, ražīgs, auglīgs, rezultatīvs
• Maori: makuru, huākumu
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: fruktbar (no)

  Nynorsk: fruktbar

• Plautdietsch: fruchtboa
• Polish: owocny (pl) m
• Portuguese: produtivo (pt), frutuoso (pt)
• Romanian: fructuos (ro) m
• Russian: плодотво́рный (ru) (plodotvórnyj), продукти́вный (ru) (produktívnyj), производи́тельный (ru) (proizvodítelʹnyj), эффекти́вный (ru) (effektívnyj), принося́щий хоро́шие результа́ты (prinosjáščij xoróšije rezulʹtáty)
• Sanskrit: सफल (sa) (saphala)
• Slovene: ploden (sl)
• Spanish: fértil (es), prolífico (es), productivo (es), fructífero (es)
• Ukrainian: продукти́вний (produktývnyj), плі́дний (plídnyj), плодотво́рний (plodotvórnyj)

References

• “fruitful”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “fruitful”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.