Fertile describes soil, land, or conditions that are rich and productive, able to support abundant plant growth. The fertile farmland of Iowa produces vast corn and soybean crops because its dark, nutrient-rich soil gives plants everything they need to thrive. The ancient Egyptians built their civilization along the Nile River because its annual floods left behind fertile soil perfect for growing food.

Scientists also use fertile to describe animals or people capable of reproducing and having offspring. A fertile queen bee can lay thousands of eggs, and fertile farmland and fertile animals both share the quality of being productive and able to generate new life.

The word can also describe minds or imaginations that generate lots of ideas. When someone has a fertile imagination, they constantly come up with creative stories or inventions. A fertile mind produces ideas the way rich soil produces crops: abundantly and seemingly without effort.

The opposite is infertile or barren, describing land too poor to grow much, or minds that struggle to generate new thoughts. Deserts are often infertile because they lack water and nutrients, though even desert soil can become fertile with irrigation.