vanilla

English

/vəˈnɪlə/, /vəˈnɛlə/

noun
Definitions
  • (countable) Any tropical, climbing orchid of the genus Vanilla (especially ), bearing podlike fruit yielding an extract used in flavoring food or in perfumes.
  • (countable) The fruit or bean of the vanilla plant.
  • (uncountable) The extract of the fruit of the vanilla plant.
  • (uncountable) The distinctive fragrant flavour/flavor characteristic of vanilla extract.
  • (uncountable) Any artificially produced homologue of vanilla extract, principally vanillin produced from lignin from the paper industry or from petrochemicals.
  • (countable) Someone who is not into fetishism; a normophile
  • (uncountable) An unmodded version of a game
  • A yellowish-white colour, like that of vanilla ice cream.

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish, Castilian vainilla (little pod, vanilla).

Origin

Spanish

vainilla

Gloss

little pod, vanilla

Timeline

Distribution of cognates by language

Geogrpahic distribution of cognates

Cognates and derived terms