vin ordinaire

1 9.9

A simple inexpensive French wine for everyday drinking

noun
/væ̃ ɔʁ.dɛ.nɛʁ/

Specialized

: 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

14 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

11 6.6

Wine that often comes from France

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

How Prestigious

fine wine

21 3.5

appellation

Specialized

1 9.9

vin du pays

Specialized

1 9.9

vin ordinaire

Specialized

1 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.