# fallow
## English
### Pronunciation

* (UK) IPA: /ˈfæləʊ/
* Audio (Southern England):(file)
* (US) enPR: fălʹō, IPA: /ˈfæloʊ/
* Rhymes: -æləʊ

### Etymology 1

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)).

#### Noun

fallow (countable and uncountable, plural fallows)
* (agriculture, uncountable) Ground ploughed and harrowed but left unseeded for one year.
* (agriculture, uncountable) Uncultivated land.
* The ploughing or tilling of land, without sowing it for a season.
** 1832, Sir John Sinclair, The Code of Agriculture: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.

##### Derived terms

* bastard fallow
* cropped fallow
* dead-fallow
* ecofallow
* fallow-break
* fallowchat
* fallow chat
* fallow crop
* fallow-field
* fallowfinch
* fallow finch
* fallow ground
* fallowist
* fallow land
* green fallow
* pin-fallow
* rag-fallow
* summer fallow
* winter fallow

##### Translations

    The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

#### Adjective

fallow (comparative more fallow, superlative most fallow)
* (of agricultural land) Ploughed but left unseeded for more than one planting season.
* (of agricultural land) Left unworked and uncropped for some amount of time.
* (figurative) Inactive; undeveloped.
    a fallow period in one's career
** 1990, Wayne Jancik, The Billboard Book of One-Hit Wonders, →ISBN, page 316:After two more homeland hits and a fallow two years, Pickettywitch was parked and junked.

##### Synonyms

* (figuratively inactive): abeyant, dormant, latent; see also Thesaurus:inactive

##### Derived terms

* apple-fallow
* fallow chat
* fallow finch
* fallowist
* fallowness
* lay fallow
* lie fallow

##### Translations
### Etymology 2

From Middle English falowen, falwen, from Old English fealgian (“to fallow; break up land”), from Proto-West Germanic *falgōn (“to fallow”). Cognate with Dutch valgen (“to plow lightly; fallow”), German Low German falgen (“to till; dig a hole”).

#### Verb

fallow (third-person singular simple present fallows, present participle fallowing, simple past and past participle fallowed)
* (transitive) To make land fallow for agricultural purposes.

##### Derived terms

* fallowed
* fallower
* fallowing
* re-fallow
* summer-fallow
* thry-fallow
* trifallow
* twifallow, twyfallow

##### Translations
### Etymology 3

From Middle English falwe, from Old English fealu, from Proto-Germanic *falwaz (compare West Frisian feal, Dutch vaal, German falb, fahl), from Proto-Indo-European *polwos (compare Lithuanian pal̃vas (“sallow, wan”), Russian поло́вый (polóvyj, “wan, light yellow”), Serbo-Croatian plâv (“blond, blue”), Ancient Greek πολιός (poliós, “grey”)), from Proto-Indo-European *pelH- (“pale, gray”).

#### Adjective

fallow (comparative more fallow, superlative most fallow)
* Of a pale red or yellow, light brown; dun.
    a fallow deer or greyhound
    fallow:
** a. 1597, William Shakespeare, The Merry Wives of Windsor, act 1, scene 1:How does your fallow greyhound, sir?

##### Related terms

* fallow deer

##### Translations
### References

* Douglas Harper (2001–2025) “fallow”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.