Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “fertility” come from?

Fertility comes from Middle French fertilité, from Latin fertilitas, meaning the quality of being fertile or productive.

fertility (English): The condition, or the degree, of being fertile;...

Definitions

  1. The condition, or the degree, of being fertile;...

Ancestry of “fertility”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Middle Frenchfertilité—
2Latinfertilitasfruitfulness, fertility, abundance
3Latinfertilisfruitful, fertile; productive
4Latin-ilis-ile
5Proto-Italic-elis—
6Proto-Indo-European-elis—
7Proto-Indo-European-lósForms agent nouns from verbal roots

Words derived from “fertility”

  • subfertility
  • antifertility
  • interfertility
  • hyperfertility
  • fertilitate
  • nonfertility
  • superfertility
  • oncofertility
Every word from Proto-Indo-European -lós →