Dried dung or manure used as fuel, especially in areas with little wood; also called dung-fuel.
Possibly from Middle English or dialectal origins; related to cow dung burning practices in South Asia and the Middle East. Etymology uncertain but widely documented in colonial and ethnographic texts.
In regions without forests, dried animal dung was precious fuel—so 'dinder' isn't crude; it's resourceful. Cows, camels, and yaks essentially turned grass into heat energy that warmed entire households.
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