vinegar
/ˈvɪnəɡɚ/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.64 in modern English
11
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
3
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A sour liquid formed by the fermentation of alcohol used as a condiment or preservative; a dilute solution of acetic acid.
Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "In Persia, newly married couples were presented with sheep's trotters steeped in vinegar as a love enticement."
- "a range of herb-flavoured vinegars"
- "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."
- "[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."
- "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 […]"
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *weh₁y-? Proto-Indo-European *-ō Proto-Indo-European *wéyh₁ōder. Proto-Italic *wīnom Latin vīnum Old French vin Proto-Indo-European *h₂eḱ- Proto-Indo-European *-rós Proto-Indo-European *h₂eḱrós Proto-Italic *akris Classical Latin ācer Late Latin ācrus Old French aigre Old French vinaigrebor. Middle English vynegre English vinegar 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).
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈvɪnəɡɚ/
- British English: /ˈvɪnəɡəː/
Usage
- Uncountable
- Countable
- American usage
- Informal
- Transitive verb
Inflected Forms
Derived Forms
Phrases
age like vinegar
apple cider vinegar
aromatic vinegar
balsamic vinegar
cane vinegar
champagne vinegar
chili vinegar
Chinese red vinegar