Grain vs. Fodder — What's the Difference?

A grain is a small, hard, dry seed - with or without an attached hull or fruit layer - harvested for human or animal consumption. A grain crop is a grain-producing plant.

Fodder (), also called provender (), is any agricultural foodstuff used specifically to feed domesticated livestock, such as cattle, rabbits, sheep, horses, chickens and pigs. "Fodder" refers particularly to food given to the animals (including plants cut and carried to them), rather than that which they forage for themselves (called forage).

Wheat or any other cultivated cereal used as food.

Feed for livestock, especially coarsely chopped hay or straw.

A single fruit or seed of a cereal

Raw material, as for artistic creation.

The smallest unit of weight in the troy and avoirdupois systems, equal to 1/5760 of a pound troy and 1/7000 of a pound avoirdupois (approximately 0.0648 gram).

A consumable, often inferior item or resource that is in demand and usually abundant supply

The longitudinal arrangement or pattern of fibres in wood, paper, etc.

To feed with fodder.

A person's character or natural tendency.

Food for animals; that which is fed to cattle, horses, and sheep, such as hay, cornstalks, vegetables, etc.

Kermes or cochineal, or dye made from either of these.

(historical) A load: various English units of weight or volume based upon standardized cartloads of certain commodities, generally around 1000 kg.

Give a rough surface or texture to

Tracing paper.

Paint (especially furniture or interior surfaces) in imitation of the grain of wood or marble.

(figurative) Stuff; material; something that serves as inspiration or encouragement, especially for satire or humour.

Remove hair from (a hide).

(cryptic crosswords) The text to be operated on (anagrammed, etc.) within a clue.

Feed (a horse) on grain.

People considered to have negligible value and easily available or expendable.

A small, dry, one-seeded fruit of a cereal grass, having the fruit and the seed walls united

(dialect) To feed animals (with fodder).

The fruits of cereal grasses especially after having been harvested, considered as a group

A weight by which lead and some other metals were formerly sold, in England, varying from 19½ to 24 cwt.; a fother.

A cereal grass

That which is fed out to cattle horses, and sheep, as hay, cornstalks, vegetables, etc.

Cereal grasses considered as a group

To feed, as cattle, with dry food or cut grass, etc.; to furnish with hay, straw, oats, etc.

A relatively small discrete particulate or crystalline mass

Coarse food (especially for cattle and horses) composed of entire plants or the leaves and stalks of a cereal crop

A small amount or the smallest amount possible

Give fodder (to domesticated animals)

(Aerospace) A mass of solid propellant.

Abbr. gr. A unit of weight in the US Customary System, an avoirdupois unit equal to 0.002285 ounce (0.065 gram).

The markings, pattern, or texture of the fibrous tissue in wood

The direction of such markings

The side of a hide or piece of leather from which the hair or fur has been removed.

The pattern or markings on this side of leather.

The pattern produced, as in stone, by the arrangement of particulate constituents.

The relative size of the particles composing a substance or pattern

A painted, stamped, or printed design that imitates the pattern found in wood, leather, or stone.

The direction or texture of fibers in a woven fabric.

A state of fine crystallization.

Basic temperament or nature; disposition

An essential quality or characteristic

(Archaic) Color; tint.

To cause to form into grains; granulate.

To paint, stamp, or print with a design imitating the grain of wood, leather, or stone.

To give a granular or rough texture to.

To remove the hair or fur from (hides) in preparation for tanning.

To form grains

(uncountable) The harvested seeds of various grass food crops eg: wheat, corn, barley.

(uncountable) Similar seeds from any food crop, e.g., buckwheat, amaranth, quinoa.

(countable) A single seed of grass food crops.

The crops from which grain is harvested.

(uncountable) A linear texture of a material or surface.

(countable) A single particle of a substance.

(countable) Any of various small units of mass originally notionally based on grain's weight, variously standardized at different places and times, including

The English grain of 5760 troy pound or 7000 pound avoirdupois, now exactly 64.79891 mg.

The metric, carat, or pearl grain of 4 carat used for measuring precious stones and pearls, now exactly 50 mg.

(historical) The French grain of 9216 livre, equivalent to 53.11 mg at metricization and equal to exactly 54.25 mg from 1812–1839 as part of the mesures usuelles.

Any of various small units of length originally notionally based on a grain's width, variously standardized at different places and times.

The carat grain of 4 carat as a measure of gold purity, creating a 96-point scale between 0% and 100% purity.

(materials) A region within a material having a single crystal structure or direction.

(rocketry) The solid piece of fuel in an individual solid-fuel rocket engine.

A reddish dye made from the coccus insect, or kermes; hence, a red color of any tint or hue, as crimson, scarlet, etc.; sometimes used by the poets as equivalent to Tyrian purple.

The hair side of a piece of leather, or the marking on that side.

(in the plural) The remains of grain, etc., after brewing or distillation; hence, any residuum. Also called draff.

(botany) A rounded prominence on the back of a sepal, as in the common dock.

Temper; natural disposition; inclination.

Visual texture in processed photographic film due to the presence of small particles of a metallic silver, or dye clouds, developed from silver halide that have received enough photons.

A branch of a tree; a stalk or stem of a plant.

A tine, prong, or fork.

One of the branches of a valley or river.

An iron fish spear or harpoon, with a number of points half-barbed inwardly.

A blade of a sword, knife, etc.

(founding) A thin piece of metal, used in a mould to steady a core.

To feed grain to.

(transitive) To make granular; to form into grains.

(intransitive) To form grains, or to assume a granular form, as the result of crystallization; to granulate.

To texture a surface in imitation of the grain of a substance such as wood.

(tanning) To remove the hair or fat from a skin.

(tanning) To soften leather.

To yield fruit.

See Groan.

To paint in imitation of the grain of wood, marble, etc.

To form (powder, sugar, etc.) into grains.

To take the hair off (skins); to soften and raise the grain of (leather, etc.).

To yield fruit.

To form grains, or to assume a granular form, as the result of crystallization; to granulate.

A single small hard seed; a kernel, especially of those plants, like wheat, whose seeds are used for food.

The fruit of certain grasses which furnish the chief food of man, as corn, wheat, rye, oats, etc., or the plants themselves; - used collectively.

Any small, hard particle, as of sand, sugar, salt, etc.; hence, any minute portion or particle; as, a grain of gunpowder, of pollen, of starch, of sense, of wit, etc.

The unit of the English system of weights; - so called because considered equal to the average of grains taken from the middle of the ears of wheat. 7,000 grains constitute the pound avoirdupois, and 5,760 grains the pound troy. A grain is equal to .0648 gram. See Gram.

A reddish dye made from the coccus insect, or kermes; hence, a red color of any tint or hue, as crimson, scarlet, etc.; sometimes used by the poets as equivalent to Tyrian purple.

The composite particles of any substance; that arrangement of the particles of any body which determines its comparative roughness or hardness; texture; as, marble, sugar, sandstone, etc., of fine grain.

The direction, arrangement, or appearance of the fibers in wood, or of the strata in stone, slate, etc.

The fiber which forms the substance of wood or of any fibrous material.

The hair side of a piece of leather, or the marking on that side.

The remains of grain, etc., after brewing or distillation; hence, any residuum. Also called draff.

Temper; natural disposition; inclination.

A sort of spice, the grain of paradise.

A branch of a tree; a stalk or stem of a plant.

A tine, prong, or fork.

A blade of a sword, knife, etc.

A thin piece of metal, used in a mold to steady a core.

A small hard particle;

Foodstuff prepared from the starchy grains of cereal grasses

Used for pearls or diamonds: 50 mg or 1/4 carat

1/60 dram; equals an avoirdupois grain or 64.799 milligrams

1/7000 pound; equals a troy grain or 64.799 milligrams

Dry seedlike fruit produced by the cereal grasses: e.g. wheat, barley, Indian corn

The direction or texture of fibers found in wood or leather or stone or in a woven fabric;

Thoroughly work in;

Paint (a surface) to make it look like stone or wood

Form into grains

Become granular