single-cropping
|sin-gle-crop-ping|
🇺🇸
/ˈsɪŋɡəl ˈkrɑpɪŋ/
🇬🇧
/ˈsɪŋɡəl ˈkrɒpɪŋ/
grow one crop (per season or area)
Etymology
'single-cropping' is a compound formed from 'single' + 'cropping' (the gerund/participle of 'crop'). 'single' ultimately comes from Latin 'singulus' via Old French (meaning 'one, individual'), and 'crop' comes from Old English 'cropp' meaning 'sprout, top' which developed into the sense of harvested produce.
'crop' changed from Old English 'cropp' (a sprout or top of a plant) into Middle and Modern English 'crop' meaning the yield or harvest; adding the gerund suffix '-ing' produced 'cropping' (the act of growing/harvesting). The compound 'single-cropping' arose in modern agricultural usage (notably 19th–20th century) to describe systems that grow only one crop per season or over a large area.
Originally roots like 'cropp' referred to a plant's sprout/top; over time 'crop' shifted to mean the harvested produce and agricultural yield. 'Single-cropping' came to denote the specific modern practice of growing a single crop in time or space, with connotations about management, pest risk, and soil use.
Meanings by Part of Speech
Noun 1
the agricultural practice of planting and harvesting only one crop on a field during a single growing season (as opposed to multiple or double cropping).
Many farmers in the region have relied on single-cropping of rice for decades.
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Noun 2
the practice or system of growing a single species over a large area (emphasizing uniformity of crop rather than seasonal count), often associated with increased pest/disease risk and soil depletion.
Critics argue that large-scale single-cropping reduces biodiversity and increases vulnerability to pests.
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Last updated: 2025/11/23 21:47