pabulum

Meanings

1. Food or fodder, particularly that taken in by plants or animals.
2. Material that feeds a fire.
3. Food for thought.
4. Bland intellectual fare; an undemanding diet of words.

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin pābulum (“food, nourishment; fodder or pasture for animals; nourishment for the mind, food for thought”), from pā(scō) (“to nourish”) + -bulum (suffix denoting an instrument), or directly from Proto-Indo-European *peh₂-dʰlom (*peh₂- (“to protect, shepherd”) + *-dʰlom, variant of *-trom (suffix denoting a tool or instrument)).