While the civil war seems like ancient history, the phrase “cannon fodder” dates back even further Referring to soldiers as food for a war is nothing new — it dates back far behind the term itself. Production of cannon fodder began following the completion of the successful strategy game mega lo mania Sensible software wanted to create another strategy game featuring mouse control and the notion of sending troops on missions, but with more action than had been used in mega lo mania. The phrase combines the word “cannon”, which refers to large, heavy artillery, and “fodder” derived from old english foddor, meaning “food” or “feed” for livestock Metaphorically, it suggests that soldiers are regarded as mere feed for cannons, implying their expendability.
Where does the noun cannon fodder come from The earliest known use of the noun cannon fodder is in the 1840s Oed's earliest evidence for cannon fodder is from 1847, in harbinger Cannon fodder is formed within english, by compounding Modelled on a german lexical item “…the term ‘cannon fodder’ is attributed to chateaubriand, in a criticism of napoleon’s cavalier expenditure of conscripts
According to the oxford english dictionary (online edition december 2021), the expression cannon fodder was coined after german kanonenfutter (attested in 1796), which was perhaps itself coined after the english expression food for powder. The phrase “cannon fodder” is believed to have originated in the 19th century, during a period of rapid military advancements, particularly in artillery As cannons became more powerful and effective, infantry formations increasingly bore the brunt of their destructive force. The meaning of cannon fodder is soldiers regarded or treated as expendable in battle How to use cannon fodder in a sentence. If you describe soldiers as cannon fodder, you mean that they are not considered important by their officers and are sent into war without their leaders worrying if they die.
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