# fodder

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˈfɒdə/ · frequency rank #18,082

## Definitions
1. Food for animals; that which is fed to cattle, horses, and sheep, such as hay, cornstalks, vegetables, etc.
2. A load: various English units of weight or volume based upon standardized cartloads of certain commodities, generally around 1000 kg.
3. Tracing paper.
4. Stuff; material; something that serves as inspiration or encouragement, especially for satire or humour.
5. The text to be operated on (anagrammed, etc.) within a clue.
6. People considered to have negligible value and easily available or expendable.

## Etymology
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.

## Easily confused with
- **foyer** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fodder-vs-foyer)
- **former** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fodder-vs-former)
- **foster** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fodder-vs-foster)
- **folded** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fodder-vs-folded)
- **folder** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fodder-vs-folder)
- **fowler** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fodder-vs-fowler)
- **footer** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fodder-vs-footer)
- **founder** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fodder-vs-founder)
- **fader** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fader-vs-fodder)
- **feeder** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/feeder-vs-fodder)
- **fender** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fender-vs-fodder)
- **finder** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/finder-vs-fodder)
- **fiddler** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fiddler-vs-fodder)

## Common misspellings (7)
`fdoder`, `ffodder`, `fodderr`, `foddre`, `fodedr`, `foder`, `ofdder`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/fodder