vanillin

va·nil·lin
V4A1N1I1L1L1I1N1
/vəˈnɪlɪn//ˈvænəlɪn/

noun

A chemical compound, 4-hydroxy-3-methoxybenzaldehyde, that is the primary constituent of vanilla.

OriginEnglish vanilla ← Spanish vainilla ← Old Spanish vayna →
UncommonScrabble 11
Ask AI about this wordChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

Meanings

nounvanillin (countable and uncountable, plural vanillins)

plural vanillins

  1. countableuncountableA chemical compound, 4-hydroxy-3-methoxybenzaldehyde, that is the primary constituent of vanilla.
  2. countableuncountableA synthetic compound used as a substitute for the extract of the vanilla bean.

Origin

  1. Proto-Italic*wāgīnā
  2. Latinvāgīna
  3. Old Spanishvayna
  4. Spanishvaina
  5. Spanishvainilla
  6. Englishvanilla
  7. Englishvanillin

From vanilla + -in.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Arabic فَانِيلِين, وَنِيلِّين
  • فَانِيلِين (fānīlīn)primary constituent of vanilla
  • وَنِيلِّين (wanīllīn)primary constituent of vanilla
  • نِيلِين (nīlīn)primary constituent of vanilla
Catalan vanil·lina
  • vanil·linaprimary constituent of vanilla
Chinese Mandarin 香草醛, 香蘭素 /香兰素
  • 香草醛 (xiāngcǎoquán)primary constituent of vanilla
  • 香蘭素 /香兰素 (xiānglánsù)primary constituent of vanilla
Czech vanilin
  • vanilinprimary constituent of vanilla
Finnish vanilliini
  • vanilliiniprimary constituent of vanilla
French vanilline
  • vanillineprimary constituent of vanilla
German Vanillin
  • Vanillinprimary constituent of vanilla
Greek βανιλίνη
  • βανιλίνη (vanilíni)primary constituent of vanilla
Japanese バニリン
  • バニリン (banirin)primary constituent of vanilla
Korean 바닐린
  • 바닐린 (banillin)primary constituent of vanilla
Malay vanilin
  • vanilinprimary constituent of vanilla
Russian ванили́н
  • ванили́н (vanilín)primary constituent of vanilla
Spanish vainillina
  • vainillinaprimary constituent of vanilla
Swedish vanillin
  • vanillinprimary constituent of vanilla
Cite this entry
APA

vanillin. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/vanillin

MLA

“vanillin.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/vanillin. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “vanillin,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/vanillin.

Source: vanillin on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.