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Etymology 1[edit]

From Middle English falow, from Old English fealh (fallow land), from Proto-Germanic *falgō (compare East Frisian falge, Dutch valg, German Felge), from Proto-Indo-European *polḱéh₂ (arable land) (compare Gaulish olca, Russian полоса́ (polosá)).


fallow (countable and uncountable, plural fallows)

  1. (agriculture, uncountable) Ground ploughed and harrowed but left unseeded for one year.
  2. (agriculture, uncountable) Uncultivated land.
  3. (agriculture, obsolete, countable) An area of fallow land.
  4. The ploughing or tilling of land, without sowing it for a season.
    • Sinclair
Derived terms[edit]



  1. (of agricultural land) Ploughed but left unseeded for more than one planting season.
  2. Inactive; undeveloped.
Derived terms[edit]