Any nourishing substance that is eaten, drunk, or otherwise taken into the body to sustain life, provide energy, promote growth, etc.
Old English foda "food, nourishment; fuel," also figurative, from Proto-Germanic *fodon (cf. Gothic fodeins), from Germanic root *fod-, equivalent of PIE *pa- "to tend, keep, pasture, to protect, to guard, to feed" (cf. 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").
