# forage

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˈfɒɹ.ɪd͡ʒ/ · frequency rank #24,757

## Definitions
1. Fodder for animals, especially cattle and horses.
2. An act or instance of foraging.
3. The demand for fodder, etc., by an army from the local population.

## Etymology
From Middle English forage, from Old French fourage, forage, a derivative of fuerre (“fodder, straw”), from Frankish *fōdar (“fodder, sheath”), from Proto-Germanic *fōdrą (“fodder, feed, sheath”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *peh₂- (“to protect, to feed”).
Cognate with Old High German fuotar (German Futter (“fodder, feed”)), Old English fōdor, fōþer (“food, fodder, covering, case, basket”), Dutch voeder (“forage, food, feed”), Danish foder (“fodder, feed”), Icelandic fóðr (“fodder, sheath”). More at fodder, food.
Unrelated to modern French forage (“drilling”), whose first element is ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰerH- (“to pierce”).

## Easily confused with
- **force** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/forage-vs-force)
- **frame** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/forage-vs-frame)
- **forge** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/forage-vs-forge)
- **forte** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/forage-vs-forte)
- **foray** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/forage-vs-foray)
- **forgo** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/forage-vs-forgo)
- **forget** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/forage-vs-forget)
- **forged** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/forage-vs-forged)
- **forego** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/forage-vs-forego)
- **forgave** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/forage-vs-forgave)
- **forbade** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/forage-vs-forbade)
- **forsake** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/forage-vs-forsake)
- **fora** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fora-vs-forage)
- **Farage** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/farage-vs-forage)
- **folate** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/folate-vs-forage)
- **footage** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/footage-vs-forage)
- **foliage** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/foliage-vs-forage)

## Common misspellings (8)
`fforage`, `foarge`, `foraeg`, `foragge`, `forgae`, `forrage`, `froage`, `ofrage`

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