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vanilla

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also: Vanilla

English

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English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia
Dried vanilla beans

Alternative forms

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Etymology

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Etymology tree
Proto-Italic *wāgīnā
Latin vāgīna
Old Spanish vayna
Spanish vaina
Proto-Indo-European *-lós
Proto-Indo-European *-elós
Proto-Italic *-elos
Latin -lus
Latin -ellus
Latin -ella
Old Spanish -iella
Spanish -illa
Spanish vainillabor.
English vanilla

    Borrowed from Spanish vainilla, a diminutive form of vaina (“pod”). "Plain" senses derive from the perceived plainness of vanilla ice cream.

    Pronunciation

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    • IPA(key): /vəˈnɪl.ə/, /vəˈnɛl.ə/
      • Audio (US):(file)
    • Rhymes: -ɪlə, -ɛlə

    Noun

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    vanilla (countable and uncountable, plural vanillas)

    1. (countable) Any tropical climbing orchid of the genus Vanilla (especially Vanilla planifolia), bearing podlike fruit yielding an extract used in flavoring food or in perfumes.
      • 1961, Harry E. Wedeck, Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs, New York: The Citadel Press, page 242:
        Vanilla itself was transplanted from Madagascar, the main source of the spice, to Polynesia a century ago.
    2. (countable) The fruit or bean of the vanilla plant.
      Synonym: vanilla bean
    3. (uncountable) The extract of the fruit of the vanilla plant.
      Synonym: vanilla extract
    4. (uncountable) The distinctive fragrant flavour/flavor characteristic of vanilla extract.
    5. (uncountable) Any artificially produced homologue of vanilla extract, principally vanillin produced from lignin from the paper industry or from petrochemicals.
      Synonym: imitation vanilla
    6. (countable, sexuality, slang) Someone who is not into fetishism.
    7. (uncountable, gaming, slang) An unmodded version of a game.
      Synonym: stock
    8. A yellowish-white colour, like that of vanilla ice cream.
      vanilla:  
    9. (derogatory, ethnic slur) A white person.

    Derived terms

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    Descendants

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    • → Icelandic: vanilla
    • → Māori: wanira

    Translations

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    See also

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    Adjective

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    vanilla (comparative more vanilla, superlative most vanilla)

    1. (of flavor, etc.) Of vanilla.
    2. (colloquial, chiefly computing, retronym) Standard, plain, default, unmodified, basic.
      vanilla JavaScript
      • 2001, Michael Foot, “BeebIt 0.32 and BBCFiles 0.29 released”, in comp.sys.acorn.announce (Usenet):
        BBCFiles is a BBC file converter that converts between some of the various types of files used by BBC emulators on Acorn & PC formats. It supports 6502Em style applications & scripts, /ssd dfs disc images (supporting watford double catalogue), vanilla directories, /zip of bbc files with /inf files (with limitations) and directory of bbc files with /inf files.
    3. (sexuality) Not kinky, not involving BDSM.
      Synonym: normophilic
      • 2006, Felix Lance Falkon, Gay Art: A Historic Collection, →ISBN, page 136:
        An uncharacteristically vanilla threesome and non-cute realist rendering - derived paradoxically from tracing drawings rather than photographs.
      • 2010, Chloe Stowe, Hard Water, →ISBN, page 37:
        While Dominick was more of a vanilla kind of a guy himself, he wasn't a total dunce when it came to the kinkier sides of things.
      • 2014, Christina Thacher, The Negotiation: A BDSM Romance, →ISBN:
        Sebastian could never do that, be in a marriage with a vanilla woman.
    4. Plain; conventional; unimaginative.
      a vanilla rendition of the concerto
      • 2024 August 19, Josh Kaplan, “Why are Jews expected to put up with rampant social media antisemitism?”, in The Jewish Chronicle‎[1], London: Jewish Chronicle Media Limited, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 22 October 2025:
        The further right or left you go, the more likely you are to eventually come around to hating Jews. On the left, this is plain to see. From the Corbyn-era trend to attack Israel for all the world's sins, to the self-hating asaJews that tweeted enthusiastically about October 7 being a 'day of celebration' to previously vanilla comedian Reginald Hunter retweeting posts about the evils of the Talmud.

    Synonyms

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    Translations

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    See also

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    Icelandic

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    Etymology

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    Borrowed from English vanilla, from Spanish vainilla, diminutive of vaina (“pod”), from Latin vāgīna (“sheath”).

    Pronunciation

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    Noun

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    vanilla f (genitive singular vanillu, no plural) or less commonly
    vanilla n (genitive singular vanilla, no plural)

    1. (usually singular only, uncountable) vanilla

    Declension

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    Declension of vanilla (sg-only feminine)
    singular
    indefinite definite
    nominative vanilla vanillan
    accusative vanillu vanilluna
    dative vanillu vanillunni
    genitive vanillu vanillunnar

    or less commonly

    Declension of vanilla (sg-only neuter)
    singular
    indefinite definite
    nominative vanilla vanillað
    accusative vanilla vanillað
    dative vanilla vanillanu
    genitive vanilla vanillans

    Derived terms

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