fodder

English

Etymology

From Middle English, from Old English fōdor, from Proto-Germanic *fōdrą (compare West Frisian foer, Dutch voer 'pasture, fodder', German Futter 'feed', Danish and Swedish foder), from *fōdô 'food', from Proto-Indo-European *pat- 'to feed', *peh₂- (“to guard, graze, feed”). More at food.

Pronunciation

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɒdə(r)

Noun

fodder (countable and uncountable; plural fodders)

1. Food for animals; that which is fed to cattle, horses, and sheep, such as hay, cornstalks, vegetables, etc.
2. A weight by which lead and some other metals were formerly sold, in England, varying from 19 1/2 to 24 cwt (993 to 1222 kg).; a fodder.
   • 1866, James Edwin Thorold Rogers, A History of Agriculture and Prices in England, Volume 1, p. 168:

     Now measured by the old hundred, that is, 108 lbs. the charrus contains nearly 19 1/2 hundreds, that is it corresponds to the fodder, or fother, of modern times.

3. (slang, drafting, design) Tracing paper.
4. (figuratively) Something which serves as inspiration or encouragement, especially for satire or humour.
   • 2012 April 29, Nathan Rabin, “TV: Review: THE SIMPSONS (CLASSIC): “Treehouse of Horror III” (season 4, episode 5; originally aired 10/29/1992)”:

     According to the audio commentary on “Treehouse Of Horror III,” some of the creative folks at The Simpsons were concerned that the “Treehouse Of Horror” franchise had outworn its welcome and was rapidly running out of classic horror or science-fiction fodder to spoof.

Synonyms

• (animal food): provender

Derived terms

• cannon fodder

Translations

food for animals

• Armenian: կեր (hy) (ker) 
• Bulgarian: фураж (bg) (furáž) m 
• Catalan: farratge (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 飼料 (cmn), 饲料 (cmn) (sìliào)

• Czech: krmivo (cs) n
• Danish: foder (da)
• Dutch: veevoeder (nl) n, veevoer (nl), kanonnenvoer (nl) (cannon fodder)
• Estonian: sööt (et)
• Finnish: rehu (fi)
• French: fourrage (fr) m
• Georgian: საკვები (ka) (sakvebi) 
• German: Futter (de) n
• Greek: χορτονομή (el) (chortonomí) f 
• Hungarian: abrak (hu), takarmány (hu)
• Italian: foraggio (it) m
• Japanese: 餌 (ja) (えさ, esa; え, e), 飼料 (ja) (しりょう, shiryō)
• Kannada: ಪ್ರಾಣಿಗಳ ಆಹಾರ (kn) (prāṇigaḷa āhāra)

• Korean: 꼴 (ko) (kkol) (grass), 먹이 (ko) (meogi), 사료 (ko) (飼料, saryo)
• Kurdish:

  Sorani: ئالیک (ku) (alik)

• Latin: cibus (la), pābulum (la) n
• Macedonian: крма (mk) (k'rma) f, сточна храна (mk) (stóčna hrána) f, помија (mk) (pómija) f
• Polish: karma (pl) f (for pets), obrok (pl) m (for horses), pasza (pl) f (for other animals)
• Portuguese: forragem (pt) f
• Romanian: furaj (ro), nutreț (ro), strânsură (ro)
• Russian: корм (ru) (korm) m , фураж (ru) (furáž) m 
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: крма (sh), крмиво (sh), сплачина (sh), помиjа (sh)

• Spanish: forraje (es) m, pienso (es) m
• Swedish: foder (sv) n
• Turkish: yem (tr)
• Võro: süüt

Verb

fodder (third-person singular simple present fodders, present participle foddering, simple past and past participle foddered)

1. (dialect) To feed animals (with fodder).

Anagrams

• forded