fertile

Etymology

Middle English, from Middle French fertile, from Old French fertile, from Latin fertilis (“fruitful, fertile”), from ferō (“I bear, carry”).

adj

1. Of land, etc.: capable of growing abundant crops; productive.
2. (figurative) Of one's imagination, etc.: active, productive, prolific.
3. (biology)
   1. Capable of reproducing; fecund, fruitful.
      Most women at the age of fifty are not fertile.
   2. Capable of developing past the egg stage.
4. (physics) Not itself fissile, but able to be converted into a fissile material by irradiation in a reactor.
   There are two basic fertile materials: uranium-238 and thorium-232.