Fertilization is the process where a male reproductive cell joins with a female reproductive cell to create the beginning of a new living thing. In plants, fertilization happens when pollen from one flower reaches the eggs inside another flower, starting the growth of seeds. In animals, fertilization occurs when a sperm cell from a male meets an egg cell from a female, beginning the development of offspring.

Without fertilization, most plants and animals couldn't reproduce. When a gardener sees bees moving from flower to flower, those bees are carrying pollen that makes fertilization possible. When chickens lay eggs, only the fertilized ones can hatch into chicks. The unfertilized eggs are the ones people eat.

Scientists also use fertilization to describe adding nutrients to soil to help plants grow better. Farmers fertilize their fields by spreading materials that make the soil richer, all based on the idea of making something more fertile, or able to produce life and growth.

The word connects to fertile, which describes land that grows plants well, or animals and people who can reproduce. A fertile imagination produces lots of creative ideas, just as fertile soil produces abundant crops.