vanille

Noun

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.
   • Vanilla itself was transplanted from Madagascar, the main source of the spice, to Polynesia a century ago.1961, Harry E. Wedeck, Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs, New York: The Citadel Press, page 242
2. (countable) The fruit or bean of the vanilla plant.

   Synonyms:

   vanilla bean

3. (uncountable) The extract of the fruit of the vanilla plant.

   Synonyms:

   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.

   Synonyms:

   imitation vanilla

6. (countable, slang) Someone who is not into fetishism.

See all 13 meanings of vanilla