fodder
n. uncountablen. food for farm animals like cows or horses. It can also mean people or things that are used only to satisfy a specific need, like 'gossip fodder' for newspapers.
n. bulk feed for livestock, such as hay or straw; figuratively refers to people or things regarded as material for a specific purpose or to satisfy a demand.
The farmer stored the winter fodder in the barn.
The celebrity's messy divorce provided endless fodder for the local tabloid newspapers for several months.
While the infantry were often treated as mere cannon fodder by the high command, the logistical reality of the campaign required them to be treated as a finite and precious resource.
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.
Commonly used in compound phrases like 'cannon fodder' or 'gossip fodder' to indicate something used up for a purpose.