farm
UK[fɑːm]US[fɑːrm]
n
An area of land and its buildings used for growing crops and rearing animals.
v
To use land for growing crops and/or keeping animals.
Etymology
The word 'farm' has a journey from finance to agriculture. It originates from the Anglo-Norman and Old French 'ferme', meaning a fixed rent or lease, which itself came from Medieval Latin 'firma', a fixed agreement or payment. This term is rooted in the Latin verb 'firmare', meaning 'to fix or settle'. By the late Middle Ages in England, the meaning shifted from the fixed rent paid for the use of land to the actual piece of land held under such a lease, eventually solidifying into its modern sense of a tract of land devoted to agricultural production.
Analysis
The word 'farm' is a simplex word of Anglo-Norman and Old French origin, derived from the Medieval Latin 'firma', meaning a fixed payment or contract. It functions as a complete lexical unit.
Examples
They own a dairy farm in the countryside.
He decided to farm the land organically.
The family has worked this farm for three generations.