pabulum (n.)

"food" for anything, "food" in its widest sense, "that which nourishes an animal or vegetable," 1670s, from Latin pabulum "fodder, food, nourishment," from PIE root *pa- "to feed" + instrumentive suffix *-dhlom. Related Pabular; pabulary. Blount's "Glossographia" (1656) has pabulous "pertaining to Fodder, Provender, Forrage, or meat for Beasts."

Pablum (1932), derived from this, is a trademark (Mead Johnson & Co.) for a soft, bland cereal used as a food for infants and weak and invalid persons, hence its figurative use (attested from 1970, first by U.S. Vice President Spiro Agnew) in reference to "mushy" political prose.

also from 1670s

Entries linking to pabulum

Pablum

proprietary name of a children's breakfast cereal, 1932; see pabulum.

*pa-

*pā-, Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to protect, feed."

It forms all or part of: antipasto; appanage; bannock; bezoar; companion; company; feed; fodder; food; forage; foray; foster; fur; furrier; impanate; pabulum; panatela; panic (n.2) "type of grass;" pannier; panocha; pantry; pastern; pastor; pasture; pester; repast; satrap.

It is the hypothetical source of/evidence for its existence is provided by: Greek pateisthai "to feed;" Latin pabulum "food, fodder," panis "bread," pasci "to feed," pascare "to graze, pasture, feed," pastor "shepherd," literally "feeder;" Avestan pitu- "food;" Old Church Slavonic pasti "feed cattle, pasture;" Russian pishcha "food;" Old English foda, Gothic fodeins "food, nourishment."

Trends of pabulum

adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/. Ngrams are probably unreliable.

More to Explore

comestible

1837, "article of food," from French comestible (14c.), from Late Latin comestibilis, from Latin comestus, past participle of comedere "eat up, consume," from com "with, together," here "thoroughly" (see com-) + edere "to eat" (from PIE root *ed- "to eat"). It was attested earlie

victuals

c. 1300, vitaylle (singular), from Anglo-French and Old French vitaille "food, nourishment, provisions," from Late Latin victualia "provisions," noun use of plural of victualis "of nourishment," from victus "livelihood, food, sustenance, that which sustains life," from past parti

food

Middle English foode, fode, from Old English foda "food, nourishment; fuel," also figurative, from Proto-Germanic *fodon (source also of Swedish föda, Danish föde, Gothic fodeins), from Germanic *fod- "food," from PIE *pat-, extended form of root *pa- "to feed." Food chain is by

tuck

late 14c., "to pull or gather up," earlier "to pluck, stretch" (implied in tucker "one who finishes clothes by stretching them on tenters, late 13c. as a surname), probably from Middle Low German or Middle Dutch tucken "pull up, draw up, tug" (cognate with Old English tucian "mis

nutrient

"a nutritious substance," 1828, noun use of adjective (1640s) meaning "providing nourishment," which is from Latin nutrientem (nominative nutriens), present participle of nutrire "to nourish, suckle, feed," from PIE *nu-tri-, suffixed form (with feminine agent suffix) of *(s)nau-

algebra

"formal mathematics; the analysis of equations; the art of reasoning about quantitative relations by the aid of a compact and highly systematized notation," 1550s, from Medieval Latin algebra, from Arabic "al-mukhtasar fi hisab al-jabr wa al-muqabala" ("the compendium on calculat

moment

late 14c., "very brief portion of time, instant," in moment of time, from Old French moment (12c.) "moment, minute; importance, weight, value" and directly from Latin momentum "movement, motion; moving power; alteration, change;" also "short time, instant" (also source of Spanish

browbeat

also brow-beat, "to bully," originally "to bear down with stern or arrogant looks," 1580s, from brow + beat (v.). [I]t appears from the earliest quotations ... that the brow in question was that of the beater, not of the beaten party; but it is not evident whether the meaning wa

pessimism

1794 "worst condition possible, point of greatest deterioration" (a sense now rare or obsolete), borrowed (by Coleridge) from French pessimisme, formed (on model of French optimisme) from Latin pessimus "worst," perhaps originally "bottom-most," from PIE *ped-samo-, suffixed (sup

compensate

1640s, "to be equivalent;" 1650s, "to counterbalance, make up for, give a substitute of equal value to," from Latin compensatus, past participle of compensare "to weigh one thing (against another)," thus, "to counterbalance," etymologically "to weigh together," from com "with, to

Share pabulum

‘cite’

Page URL:

https://www.etymonline.com/word/pabulum

HTML Link:

<a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/pabulum">Etymology of pabulum by etymonline</a>

APA style:

Harper, D. (n.d.). Etymology of pabulum. Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved $(datetime), from https://www.etymonline.com/word/pabulum

Chicago style:

Harper Douglas, “Etymology of pabulum,” Online Etymology Dictionary, accessed $(datetime), https://www.etymonline.com/word/pabulum.

MLA style:

Harper, Douglas. “Etymology of pabulum.” Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com/word/pabulum. Accessed $(datetimeMla).

IEEE style:

D. Harper. “Etymology of pabulum.” Online Etymology Dictionary. https://www.etymonline.com/word/pabulum (accessed $(datetime)).

updated on July 03, 2023

Remove ads >

Dictionary entries near pabulum

p.o.v.

P.S.

*pa-

Pablum

pabulum

paca

pace

pacemaker

pacer

pachinko