cannon fodder
English
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cannon fodder
Where it comes from
Mid-19th century, from cannon (“artillery piece”) + fodder (“food”), a calque of German Kanonenfutter, itself possibly a calque of English food for powder. See the German for more.
noun cannonfodder · cannon-fodder
- Military forces considered to be expendable. "A foolish old half-pay officer," boomed Sir Hilton. "Go back to your club, sir, and play bridge with other superannuated cannon-fodder, sir."
- Any group of contestants that have no hope of success. It is arrogant to simply dismiss San Marino and say they should not be playing qualifiers at this level but it is hard to see what England and manager Southgate learned from this one-sided, rather soulless experience against a team who were little more than cannon fodder.
- Artillery ammunition.
- An expendable minor character primarily included to make the protagonist(s) stand out.
Translations
Every language
noun military forces considered to be expendable
| Español | carne de cañón |
|---|---|
| 한국어 | 총알받이 chong'albaji, 대포밥 daepobap |
| 日本語 | 砲弾の餌食 hōdan no ejiki |
| 中文 | 炮灰 pàohuī |
| हिन्दी | तोप-चारा top-cārā, युद्ध बलि yuddh bali, कैनन चारा kainan cārā |
| Português | carne de canhão, bucha de canhão |
| Français | chair à canon |
| Deutsch | Kanonenfutter |
| Italiano | carne da cannone |
| Ελληνικά | κανονιοτροφή kanoniotrofí |
| Română | carne de tun |
| العربية | عَلَف مِدْفَع ʕalaf midfaʕ, وَقُود مِدْفَع waqūd midfaʕ, وَقُود حَرْب waqūd ḥarb |
| עברית | בְּשַׂר תּוֹתָחִים |
Talk about this word "cannon fodder." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/cannon%20fodder. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. cannon fodder. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/cannon%20fodder "cannon fodder." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/cannon%20fodder.Cite this
@misc{cannon_fodder_2026,
title = {cannon fodder},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/cannon%20fodder},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
