What does fertilize mean?
Fertilize is a verb with two principal senses. In agriculture and gardening, it means to enrich soil with nutrients—through manure, compost, or chemical products—so that plants can grow more vigorously and yield more. In biology and medicine, it refers to the process by which a sperm cell unites with an egg or ovule, initiating the development of a new organism or seed. Both senses share an underlying idea of making something fertile, that is, capable of producing life or growth. The word appears frequently in scientific writing, agricultural policy, reproductive medicine, and everyday gardening advice, and it extends naturally into phrases like 'self-fertilize,' used for organisms that reproduce without a mate. Its derivatives—fertilizer, fertilization, fertile—are among the most common vocabulary in both agronomy and biology, making fertilize a useful anchor word for anyone reading about food production or reproduction.
To treat soil or land with nutrients so as to improve its productivity for plant growth.
"The vineyard owner hires workers to fertilize the vines before bud break."
Often used transitively with the field, garden, or crop as the object.
To unite an egg or ovule with male reproductive cells so that a new organism or seed begins to develop.
"Only one sperm will successfully fertilize the egg during normal human reproduction."
Dominant sense in scientific, medical, and veterinary contexts.
The same word that describes feeding a wheat field also describes the exact moment you began as an organism.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of fertilize
Fertilize comes from the adjective 'fertile,' which entered English from Old French, ultimately deriving from Latin 'fertilis' ('fruitful, productive'), itself formed from 'ferre' ('to bear, to carry'). The verb took shape in English in the early seventeenth century as part of the broader pattern of forming verbs from adjectives with the '-ize' suffix. It shares its deep Latin root with related words such as fertile and fertility, and more distantly with terms built on 'ferre,' including transfer and conifer.
Related word forms
How fertilize is actually used
Standard register across contexts; the biological sense dominates in medical and scientific writing, while the agricultural sense is common in gardening and farming discourse. The spelling 'fertilize' is American and British Oxford style; '-ise' forms are standard elsewhere in Britain.
Easily confused with fertilize
'Fertilise' is simply the British spelling of the same verb, while 'fertilize' is the American spelling — they are not different words.