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Glite Dictionary
vin ordinaire

vin ordinaire

9.9
A simple inexpensive French wine for everyday drinking
  • noun
  • /væ̃ ɔʁ.dɛ.nɛʁ/
  • Specialized
translation icon : vino ordinario
  • I would hate to be so jaded that I can't enjoy a nice glass of vin ordinaire.

Examples

  • Have a little vin ordinaire to wash down all that depressed pasta.

    The Boys in the Band (1970)

  • She poured herself a glass of vin ordinaire to enjoy with her dinner.

  • At the picnic, we had vin ordinaire instead of the expensive wine.

  • He prefers vin ordinaire for casual meals rather than saving the fancy bottles.

Synonyms

vino
vsvin ordinaire
  • Informal
15 7.7

A drink made from grapes, often red

is narrower and refers to an inexpensive French table drink for daily use
vin
vsvin ordinaire
1 6.6

Wine that often comes from France

is narrower, meaning an ordinary inexpensive table wine for daily drinking

How Prestigious

fine wine
13 3.5
appellation
  • Specialized
1 9.9
vin du pays
  • Specialized
9.9
vin ordinaire
  • Specialized
9.9

Surface Forms

vin ordinaire singular
vins ordinaires plural

Morphology

vin + ordinaire

The meaning is directly derivable from 'vin' (wine) + 'ordinaire' (ordinary/common), indicating a common, inexpensive table wine rather than a distinguished vintage. This is compositional and cross-linguistically transparent (ordinaire is a cognate of English 'ordinary' and similar in many languages), so a B1 learner who knows the constituents can infer the MWE's meaning.

Etymology

Vin ordinaire literally names its meaning: vin 'wine' and ordinaire 'ordinary'. It started as the everyday, inexpensive wine people drank at home or in small cafés rather than a special bottle, so today it means a simple table wine of ordinary quality.