vinegar
English
Etymology
From Middle English vynegre, from Old French vinaigre from Old French vyn egre, based on Latin vīnum (“wine”) + Latin ācer (“sour”). Displaced Old English æċed (survived in Middle English eced).
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈvɪnəɡə/
Audio (UK): (file) - (General American) IPA(key): /ˈvɪnəɡɚ/
Audio (US): (file) - Hyphenation: vin‧e‧gar
- Rhymes: -ɪnəɡə(ɹ)
Noun
vinegar (countable and uncountable, plural vinegars)
- (uncountable) A sour liquid formed by the fermentation of alcohol used as a condiment or preservative; a dilute solution of acetic acid.
- 1961, Harry E. Wedeck, Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs, New York: The Citadel Press, page 220:
- In Persia, newly married couples were presented with sheep's trotters steeped in vinegar as a love enticement.
- (countable) Any variety of vinegar.
- a range of herb-flavoured vinegars
- (informal, US) Vigor; vitality.
- 1962, “The Legend of John Henry's Hammer”, performed by Johnny Cash:
- You full of vinegar now, but you 'bout through / We gonna get a steam drill to do your share of driving / Then what's all them muscles gonna do? Huh, John Henry? / Gonna take a little bit of vinegar out of you.
- 2026 January 24, Linda Feldmann, “Rahm Emanuel for president? A Monitor event with Chicago’s former mayor.”, in The Christian Science Monitor:
- [Rahm Emanuel] was full of vinegar on his proposal of mandatory retirement at age 75 for the president and the rest of the executive branch, as well as Congress and the judiciary.
Derived terms
- age like vinegar
- apple cider vinegar
- aromatic vinegar
- balsamic vinegar
- cane vinegar
- champagne vinegar
- chili vinegar
- Chinese red vinegar
- Chinkiang vinegar
- cider vinegar
- coconut vinegar
- drinking vinegar
- four thieves' vinegar
- fruit vinegar
- full of piss and vinegar
- herb vinegar
- honey catches more flies than vinegar
- horticultural vinegar
- it is better to be preserved in vinegar than to rot in honey
- malt vinegar
- Marseilles vinegar
- mint vinegar
- mother of vinegar
- palm vinegar
- piss and vinegar
- pith and vinegar
- pyroligneous vinegar
- quick vinegar
- radical vinegar
- raspberry vinegar
- rice vinegar
- rose vinegar
- salt and vinegar
- sherry vinegar
- spiced vinegar
- spirit vinegar
- spit and vinegar
- sugar-vinegar
- sweetened vinegar
- tarragon vinegar
- thieves' vinegar
- toilet vinegar
- vinegar beer
- Vinegar Bible
- vinegar car
- vinegar eel, vinegar-eel
- vinegar essence
- vinegarette
- vinegar-field
- vinegar fly, vinegar-fly
- vinegarish
- vinegarist
- vinegar lamp
- vinegar mother
- vinegar pie
- vinegar plant, vinegar-plant
- vinegar-railing
- vinegarrette
- vinegar rice
- vinegar slaw
- vinegar stick
- vinegar stroke
- vinegar strokes
- vinegar syndrome
- vinegar tree, vinegar-tree
- vinegar valentine
- vinegar weed, vinegarweed
- vinegar worm
- vinegary
- vinegar-yard
- white vinegar
- wine vinegar
- wish one at vinegar
- wood vinegar
- you attract more flies with honey than vinegar
- you can catch more flies with honey than vinegar
- you can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar
- you catch more flies with honey than vinegar
- you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar
- Zhenjiang vinegar
Related terms
Descendants
Descendants
- → Japanese: ビネガー (binegā)
Translations
condiment
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See also
Verb
vinegar (third-person singular simple present vinegars, present participle vinegaring, simple past and past participle vinegared)
- (transitive) To season or otherwise treat with vinegar.
- 1841 February–November, Charles Dickens, “Barnaby Rudge. Chapter 19.”, in Master Humphrey’s Clock, volume III, London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC:
- Accordingly, after a vast amount of moaning and crying up-stairs, and much damping of foreheads, and vinegaring of temples, and hartshorning of noses, and so forth […]
Derived terms
Translations
to season with vinegar
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