fodder

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fodder

/ˈfɒdə/ UK
/ˈfɔdə/ Australia, British, Southern
/ˈfɒdə/ New Zealand
[ˈfɔ̟də] ~ [ˈfɞ̠də] New Zealand
/ˈfɑdɚ/ US
/ˈfɒdɚ/ Canada
/ˈfɔdəɾ/ Scotland

Sounds like father (US, Canada, th-stopping) · Rhymes with -ɒdə(ɹ)

Where it comes from

From Middle English fodder, foder, from Old English fōdor (“feed; fodder”), from Proto-West Germanic *fōdr, from Proto-Germanic *fōdrą, from *fōdô (“food”), from Proto-Indo-European *peh₂- (“to guard, graze, feed”).

Compare Saterland Frisian Fodder, West Frisian foer, Dutch voer (“pasture; fodder”), German Futter (“fodder; feed”), Danish foder, Swedish foder. More at food.

noun fodders

countable, uncountable Food for animals; that which is fed to cattle, horses, and sheep, such as hay, cornstalks, vegetables, etc. The sheep for fodder follow the shepherd, the shepherd for food follows not the sheep.
Similar: forage, provender
countable, historical, uncountable A load: various English units of weight or volume based upon standardized cartloads of certain commodities, generally around 1000 kg. 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.
Similar: load
countable, slang, uncountable Tracing paper.
countable, figuratively, uncountable Stuff; material; something that serves as inspiration or encouragement, especially for satire or humour. 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.
countable, uncountable The text to be operated on (anagrammed, etc.) within a clue. In (part of) Shelley's poem Ozymandias is a "crumbling statue". If this is the explanation then the clue is not a reverse cryptic in the same was^([sic]) as GEGS -> SCRAMBLED EGGS but a normal clue where where^([sic]) the fodder and anagrind are *both* indirect.
countable, uncountable People considered to have negligible value and easily available or expendable. Innocent people who are arrested become fodder for the justice system.

verb fodders · foddering · foddered

dialectal To feed animals (with fodder). Straw will do well enough to fodder them with

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: forage, provender, feedstuff, stover, hay, silage, feeding, crop, feed, food, hottie, eating, chou, diet, barrel, hot

Translations

Every language

noun food for animals

Español	forraje, pienso
한국어	꼴 kkol, 먹이 meogi, 사료 saryo
日本語	餌, 飼料 shiryō
中文	飼料 /饲料 sìliào
हिन्दी	चारा cārā
Português	forragem
Français	fourrage
Deutsch	Futter, Viehfutter
Italiano	foraggio, biada
Ελληνικά	χορτονομή chortonomí, σανό sanó
Română	furaj, nutreț, strânsură
Русский	корм korm, фура́ж furáž
العربية	عَلَف ʕalaf

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MLA

"fodder." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/fodder. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

fodder. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/fodder

Chicago

"fodder." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/fodder.

BibTeX

@misc{fodder_2026,
  title = {fodder},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/fodder},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}