vanilla means of vanilla.
vanilla is pronounced /vəˈnɪl.ə/.
Why “vanilla” is a great word
Standard, plain, or conventional, often used pejoratively to denote a lack of distinctive features or adventurousness. From Spanish *vainilla* ("little pod"), diminutive of *vaina* ("pod, sheath"), from Latin *vagina* ("sheath, scabbard"); the figurative 'plain' sense derives from the perceived ordinariness of vanilla ice cream compared to other flavors. Unlike "exotic," which suggests the striking allure of the foreign, or "kinky," which denotes a transgressive thrill, vanilla carries the quiet weight of the unremarkable. It is the beige wall in a rented apartment, the safe consensus in a committee meeting, the predictable plot of a syndicated television show—a choice so common it has come to mean the absence of choice, a life lived contentedly within the sheath.
Etymology
Borrowed from Spanish vainilla, a diminutive form of vaina (“pod”). "Plain" senses derive from the perceived plainness of vanilla ice cream.
adj
- Of vanilla.e.g.“A mass of folders and binders. One, vanilla in colour, catches her eye.” — 2004, David Mitchell, Cloud Atlas, London: Sceptre (Hodder and Stoughton), →ISBN:
- Standard, plain, default, unmodified, basic.e.g.“vanilla JavaScript”
- Not kinky, not involving BDSM.e.g.“An uncharacteristically vanilla threesome and non-cute realist rendering - derived paradoxically from tracing drawings rather than photographs.” — 2006, Felix Lance Falkon, Gay Art: A Historic Collection, →ISBN, page 136:
- Plain; conventional; unimaginative.
noun
- Any tropical climbing orchid of the genus Vanilla (especially Vanilla planifolia), bearing podlike fruit yielding an extract used in flavoring food or in perfumes.e.g.“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:
- The fruit or bean of the vanilla plant.
- The extract of the fruit of the vanilla plant.
- The distinctive fragrant flavour/flavor characteristic of vanilla extract.
- Any artificially produced homologue of vanilla extract, principally vanillin produced from lignin from the paper industry or from petrochemicals.
- Someone who is not into fetishism.
- An unmodded version of a game.
- A yellowish-white colour, like that of vanilla ice cream.
- A white person.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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