fecund

/ˈfiːkənd/ (bre, ipa) · /ˈfiːkənd/ (ame, ipa) · /ˈfe-kənd ˈfē-/ (ame, mw)

fecund — 形容詞

  • fecundpositive
  • more fecundcomparative
  • most fecundsuperlative

1. (of land, animals, or people) yielding offspring, crops, or young in large numbe

1.形容詞C2
釋義

多產的；肥沃

土地或生物產量豐富的

(of land, animals, or people) yielding offspring, crops, or young in large numbers; physically very fertile.

例句

The fecund soil along the Mekong river feeds three rice harvests every year.

湄公河沿岸肥沃的土壤，每年可孕育出三季稻作。

subject: fecund + noun describing land or soil

Rodrigo's family of dairy goats turned out to be remarkably fecund that spring.

Rodrigo 家的乳山羊群在那個春天竟然格外多產。

predicative use: be fecund (after a linking verb)

同義詞
  • fertile

    the everyday word; works in casual speech as well as scientific writing

  • prolific

    stresses sheer quantity of offspring or output; less tied to land

  • fruitful

    literary; often applied to land, trees, or efforts that produce good results

反義詞
  • barren

    of land or living things that cannot produce anything

  • sterile

    biologically unable to reproduce; medical or scientific use

用法筆記

Subject is usually land, soil, or a living thing capable of reproducing. In modern English the word feels literary or scientific; in daily speech most speakers say 'fertile' instead.

常見錯誤

❌My garden is fecund this year — look at the tomatoes!
✅My garden is producing well this year
💡look at the tomatoes!' — 'fecund' is too formal for casual conversation; save it for writing or scientific contexts.

2. producing a steady stream of new ideas, designs, or works of art; mentally or ar

2.形容詞C2
釋義

富創造力

心靈或時代靈感源源不絕的

producing a steady stream of new ideas, designs, or works of art; mentally or artistically very inventive.

例句

Critics still praise the fecund imagination of the young Brazilian poet Élise Cardoso.

評論家至今仍盛讚這位年輕巴西詩人 Élise Cardoso 富創造力的想像力。

fecund + abstract noun (imagination, mind)

Vienna in the 1890s was a fecund period for painting, music, and new psychological theories.

1890 年代的維也納，是繪畫、音樂與新興心理學理論百花齊放的創意盛世。

fecund + time period in cultural or scientific history

同義詞
  • prolific

    the most common everyday alternative for steady creative output

  • inventive

    stresses originality of each idea, not just quantity

  • productive

    neutral; can describe workers and machines as well as minds

反義詞
  • uninspired

    lacking fresh ideas; everyday word

  • sterile

    of a debate, period, or environment that produces nothing new

用法筆記

Distinguish from sense 1: this sense applies to the mind, an era, or a creative environment, never to land, animals, or people's reproductive capacity. The 'output' is ideas, art, or theories rather than offspring.

常見錯誤

❌The writer was fecund and had three children.
✅The writer was prolific and had three children.
💡mixing the creative sense with the reproductive sense in one sentence reads as a pun; pick one sense per sentence.