compost

English

Etymology

From Middle English compost, from Old Northern French compost (“mixture of leaves, manure, etc., for fertilizing land" also "condiment”), from Latin compositus (“composed”), from componere. Doublet of compote, which was taken from modern French, and composite.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈkɒmpɒst/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈkɑmpoʊst/
• Hyphenation: com‧post

Noun

compost (countable and uncountable, plural composts)

1. The decayed remains of organic matter that has rotted into a natural fertilizer.

   Dig plenty of compost into clay or sandy soil to improve its structure.

   • c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iv]:

     And do not spread the compost on the weeds / To make them ranker.

   • 2014 April 21, Mary Keen, “You can still teach an old gardener new tricks: Even the hardiest of us gardeners occasionally learn useful new techniques [print version: Gardening is always ready to teach even the hardiest of us a few new tricks, 19 April 2014]”, in The Daily Telegraph (Gardening)‎^[1], page G7:

     [T]he very wet winter will have washed much of the goodness out of the soil. Homemade compost and the load of manure we get from a friendly farmer may not be enough to compensate for what has leached from the ground.

2. (UK) A medium in which one can cultivate plants.

   Once the seed tray is filled with compost, insert the seeds spaced 3 cm apart from one another.

   • Royal Horticultural Society, Organic matter: what is it?‎^[2], retrieved 2021-03-29:

     [T]he term 'compost' is commonly used to mean the material used to fill pots, seed trays and containers.

3. (obsolete) A mixture; a compound.
   • a. 1660, Henry Hammond, God's Complaint Against Revolters:

     A sad compost of more bitter than sweet.

Derived terms

• composter
• compost heap
• compostlike
• composture
• composty
• potting compost
• vermicompost

 

Translations

decayed remains of organic matter

• Bulgarian: компо́ст m (kompóst)
• Catalan: compost (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 堆肥 (zh) (duīféi)

• Czech: kompost (cs) m
• Danish: kompost c
• Dutch: compost (nl) m or n
• Esperanto: kompoŝto
• Finnish: kompostimulta, komposti (fi)
• French: compost (fr) m
• Galician: compost (gl) m, estrume (gl) m
• German: Kompost (de) m
• Greek: φουσκί (el) n (fouskí), κοπρόχωμα (el) n (kopróchoma)
• Ido: komposto (io), dungo (io)
• Indonesian: kompos (id)
• Italian: compost (it) m
• Japanese: 堆肥 (ja) (たいひ, taihi), コンポスト (konposuto)
• Korean: 퇴비(堆肥) (ko) (toebi), 콤포스트 (komposeuteu)
• Macedonian: компост (kompost)
• Maori: onepōpopo
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: kompost m

  Nynorsk: kompost m

• Polish: kompost (pl) m
• Portuguese: composto (pt) m
• Russian: компо́ст (ru) m (kompóst), перегно́й (ru) m (peregnój)
• Slovene: kompost m
• Spanish: compost (es) m
• Swedish: kompost (sv) c
• Turkish: kompost (tr)
• Vietnamese: phân trộn

Verb

compost (third-person singular simple present composts, present participle composting, simple past and past participle composted)

1. To produce compost, let organic matter decay into fertilizer.

   If you compost your grass clippings, you can improve your soil.

Derived terms

• compostability
• compostable
• noncomposted
• recompost
• uncomposted

 

Translations

to produce compost

• Bulgarian: компостирам (kompostiram)
• Catalan: compostar
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Czech: kompostovat
• Danish: kompostere (da)
• Dutch: composteren (nl)
• Finnish: kompostoida (fi)
• Galician: compostar
• German: kompostieren (de)
• Italian: compostare (it)
• Maori: whakapopo, whakapōpopo
• Norwegian: kompostere (no)
• Polish: kompostować
• Portuguese: compostar
• Russian: please add this translation if you can
• Slovak: kompostovať
• Slovene: kompostirati
• Spanish: compostar (es)
• Swedish: kompostera (sv)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• French: ^{(please verify)} composter (fr)
• Hebrew: ^{(please verify)} רקבובית (raqbuvyt) f
• Latin: ^{(please verify)} compostus m
• Serbo-Croatian: ^{(please verify)} kompost (sh)

See also

• mulch (sometimes used interchangeably with compost)
• humus

Anagrams

• compots

Catalan

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central) [kumˈpɔst]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic, Valencia) [komˈpɔst]

Etymology 1

Inherited from Latin compostus, syncopated variant of compositus.

Adjective

compost (feminine composta, masculine plural composts or compostos, feminine plural compostes)

1. compound

   ull compost ― compound eye

Participle

compost (feminine composta, masculine plural composts or compostos, feminine plural compostes)

1. past participle of compondre

Etymology 2

From the above, possibly influenced by English compost.

Noun

compost m (plural composts or compostos)

1. compost

Related terms

• compostar

Further reading

• “compost” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “compost” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from English compost.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɔmˈpɔst/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: com‧post
• Rhymes: -ɔst

Noun

compost m or n (uncountable)

1. compost, natural fertilizer produced by decaying organic matter

Derived terms

• composteren
• compostering
• composthoop

Descendants

• → Indonesian: kompos

French

Etymology

From a substantivation and specialization of old Norman compost, from (Old Northern French), Old French composte (“mixture of leaves, manure, etc., for fertilizing land; condiment”), from Latin compostus, syncopated variant of compositus (“composed, compound”), from componere. Modern French spelling influenced by English (compare the modern Norman spelling compôt, which is the expected form). Doublet of compote and composite.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɔ̃.pɔst/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

compost m (plural composts)

1. compost, natural fertilizer produced by decaying organic matter

Derived terms

• compostage
• composter

Related terms

• composer

Further reading

• “compost”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Italian

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English compost. Doublet of composto.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkɔm.post/
• Rhymes: -ɔmpost
• Hyphenation: còm‧post

Noun

compost m (invariable)

1. compost

Further reading

• compost in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana
• compost in garzantilinguistica.it – Garzanti Linguistica, De Agostini Scuola Spa

Old French

Etymology

From Latin compostus, syncopated variant of compositus, from compōnō (“I arrange, compile, compose, make up”).

Adjective

compost m (oblique and nominative feminine singular composte)

1. composed (of)

Descendants

• English: compost
• Norman: compôt
• French: compost, compote

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French compost.

Noun

compost n (plural composturi)

1. compost

Declension

	singular			plural
	indefinite	definite		indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	compost	compostul		composturi	composturile
genitive-dative	compost	compostului		composturi	composturilor
vocative	compostule			composturilor

Spanish

Etymology

From French compost (“mixture of leaves, manure, etc., for fertilizing land" also "condiment”), from Latin compositus (“composed”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /komˈpost/ [kõmˈpost̪]
• Rhymes: -ost
• Syllabification: com‧post

Noun

compost m (plural composts)

1. compost

   Synonym: composta

Related terms

• compostar

 

Further reading

• “compost”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.7, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2023 November 28
• compost on the Spanish Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^es