fecund

[fee-kuhnd, -kuh nd, fek-uhnd, -uh nd] /ˈfi kʌnd, -kənd, ˈfɛk ʌnd, -ənd/
adjective
1.
producing or capable of producing offspring, fruit, vegetation, etc., in abundance; prolific; fruitful:
fecund parents; fecund farmland.
2.
very productive or creative intellectually:
the fecund years of the Italian Renaissance.
Origin
1375-1425; late Middle English < Latin fēcundus, equivalent to fē- (see fetus) + -cundus adj. suffix; replacing late Middle English fecounde < Anglo-French
Related forms
nonfecund, adjective
unfecund, adjective
Examples from the web for fecund
  • Yet no matter how fecund nature is, humans are more so.
  • If such ancient water can be located in other areas, arid land can readily made arable and fecund.
  • Instead, it's with the giddily fecund contagion that overruns the movie's climax.
  • The social-media sites are touting their expertly tended, notably fecund, but still fenced-in offerings.
  • And from the absurdly lifeless to the absurdly fecund.
  • The red shiner is moderately fecund, but its realized fecundity is high due to a protracted spawning season.
  • As will all rockfishes, coppers are viviparous and highly fecund.
  • Unsolved pollution problems plague the industry, despoiling once fecund waters of nearby estuaries and inshore coastal bays.
British Dictionary definitions for fecund

fecund

/ˈfiːkənd; ˈfɛk-/
adjective
1.
greatly productive; fertile
2.
intellectually productive; prolific
Word Origin
C14: from Latin fēcundus; related to Latin fētus offspring
Word Origin and History for fecund
adj.

early 15c., from Middle French fecond, from Latin fecundus "fruitful, fertile, productive," from *fe-kwondo-, suffixed form of Latin root *fe-, corresponding to PIE *dhe(i)- "to suck, suckle," also "produce, yield" (cf. Sanskrit dhayati "sucks," dhayah "nourishing;" Greek thele "mother's breast, nipple," thelys "female, fruitful;" Old Church Slavonic dojiti "to suckle," dojilica "nurse," deti "child;" Lithuanian dele "leech;" Old Prussian dadan "milk;" Gothic daddjan "to suckle;" Old Swedish dia "suckle;" Old High German tila "female breast;" Old Irish denaim "I suck," dinu "lamb").

Also from the same Latin root come felare "to suck;" femina "woman" (*fe-mna-, literally "she who suckles"); felix "happy, auspicious, fruitful;" fetus "offspring, pregnancy;" fenum "hay" (probably literally "produce"); and probably filia/filius "daughter/son," assimilated from *felios, originally "a suckling."

fecund in Medicine

fecund fe·cund (fē'kənd, fěk'ənd)
adj.
Capable of producing offspring; fertile.