Third person singular present tense of fertilize; adds nutrients to soil or combines reproductive cells.
From Latin fertilis + English verb-forming '-ize' + third person singular '-es'. This is the standard American spelling for the verb in third person or simple present tense.
When a bee 'fertilizes' a flower by moving pollen, it's using the exact same word as a farmer fertilizing fields—nature doesn't distinguish between the processes, so English doesn't either.
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