What does infertile mean?
Infertile means unable to produce offspring, viable seeds, or plant growth. It is commonly used of soil, land, and animals or humans, including eggs. The word can also describe an undertaking, plan, or environment that seems unable to generate results, ideas, or development. In these figurative contexts, it carries a formal tone and suggests sterility rather than merely temporary difficulty. For example, an infertile field may be unsuitable for farming, while a politically infertile proposal may have little chance of producing progress. The term is related to fertile, the opposite meaning, and to fertility. Although it is precise and widely understood, less formal alternatives such as barren, sterile, unproductive, and fruitless are often more conversational.
adjectiveIncapable of producing offspring, young, or viable plant seeds. By extension, unable to produce results, growth, or useful development.
- Unable to produce offspring, young, seeds, or fertile growth.
- Lacking productivity, creativity, or capacity for development.
"The farmer replaced the infertile soil with a more fertile mixture."
"The region's infertile climate makes it difficult to grow food crops."
"The committee rejected the proposal as too ambitious and politically infertile."
Infertile describes more than barren ground: it can also describe a project, system, or idea that produces no growth or results.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does infertile come from?
The English word comes from Latin infertilis, formed from the negative prefix in- and fertilis, meaning fertile or fruitful. Its literal sense developed from the idea of land or organisms unable to produce offspring or crops. Through English, it belongs to a wider family of words based on the Latin root fertilis, including fertile, fertility, and fertilize.
Related word forms
How infertile is actually used
The word is formal and relatively uncommon in everyday speech. It is most often used for land, soil, organisms, and reproductive biology; in figurative use, it usually suggests an inability to produce meaningful results.
Easily confused with infertile
Infecund means unproductive or not producing offspring, while infertile is the more common modern term and is especially used for soil, land, and biological reproduction.