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vanilla

/vəˈnɪl.ə/noun, adjective

vanilla is spelled V-A-N-I-L-L-A: 7 letters and 3 syllables. It appears 6.9 times per million words in written English, the 9,045th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, vanilla means “Any tropical climbing orchid of the genus Vanilla (especially Vanilla planifolia), bearing podlike fruit yielding an extract used in flavoring food…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of vanilla is vanillas.

How many letters and syllables are in vanilla?

Letters7: V-A-N-I-L-L-A
Syllables3 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing6.9 times per million words; the 9,045th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How common is vanilla?

Vanilla appears 6.9 times per million words in written English, the 9,045th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce vanilla?

  • /vəˈnɪl.ə/
  • /vəˈnɛl.ə/

Vanilla has 3 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-vanilla.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of vanilla

  • vanillas plural
  • nilla
  • more vanilla comparative
  • most vanilla superlative

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does vanilla mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    Any tropical climbing orchid of the genus Vanilla (especially Vanilla planifolia), bearing podlike fruit yielding an extract used in flavoring food or in perfumes.

  2. 2

    The fruit or bean of the vanilla plant.

  3. 3

    The extract of the fruit of the vanilla plant.

  4. 4

    The distinctive fragrant flavour/flavor characteristic of vanilla extract.

  5. 5

    Any artificially produced homologue of vanilla extract, principally vanillin produced from lignin from the paper industry or from petrochemicals.

  6. 6

    slangSomeone who is not into fetishism.

  7. 7

    slangAn unmodded version of a game.

  8. 8

    A yellowish-white colour, like that of vanilla ice cream.

adjective

  1. 1

    Of vanilla.

  2. 2

    colloquialStandard, plain, default, unmodified, basic.

    vanilla JavaScript

  3. 3

    Not kinky, not involving BDSM.

  4. 4

    Plain; conventional; unimaginative.

    a vanilla rendition of the concerto

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

How do you abbreviate vanilla?

Wiktionary records one abbreviation of vanilla: nilla.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Vanilla in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchvanille (orchid), de vanille, à la vanille (of vanilla), standard, classique (standard)
Portuguesebaunilha (orchid)
Spanishvainilla (orchid), vainillado (of vanilla)
GermanVanille (fruit), Vanille- (flavor)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does vanilla come from?

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

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after vanilla