The state or quality of being barren; emptiness, infertility, or lack of productivity or life.
From barren plus -ness, a suffix that converts adjectives into abstract nouns describing their quality. This is one of the most productive noun-forming suffixes in English.
Barrenness was a tragedy in ancient and medieval societies—a woman's inability to bear children could result in divorce, shame, or abandonment, making it simultaneously a physical condition and a social catastrophe.
Historically, 'barrenness' in women was treated as personal failure and grounds for divorce/abandonment. Male infertility was rarely named with equivalent stigma, embedding gendered shame into the word's connotations.
Use clinically (e.g., 'infertility,' 'inability to conceive') when discussing reproductive capacity. Avoid metaphorically applying 'barren' to describe women's worth or social value.
["infertility","sterility","unproductive (for land/ideas only)"]
Women's contributions have never depended on reproductive capacity. Modern medicine recognizes infertility as a medical condition affecting any gender equally.
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