Meaning

noun cultivated land that is not seeded for one or more growing seasons

adjective left unplowed and unseeded during a growing season

adjective undeveloped but potentially useful

origin[Alt: A photograph of a light brown deer.] From Middle English falwe, from Old English fealu, from Proto-West Germanic *falu, from Proto-Germanic *falwaz (compare West Frisian feal, Dutch vaal, German falb, fahl, French fauve), from Proto-Indo-European *polwos (compare Lithuanian pal̃vas (“sallow, wan”), Russian поло́вый (polóvyj, “wan, light yellow”), Serbo-Croatian plâv (“blond, blue”), Ancient…

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0