blancs

Blancs is the plural masculine form of the French adjective blanc, meaning white. The feminine plural is blanches, and the singular masculine is blanc. In use, blancs can describe color, but it also appears in various technical and cultural terms derived from the color reference. The word comes from Latin albus, via Old French blanc.

In wine and tasting, blancs commonly refers to white wines or to a category of wines. For example, vins blancs denotes white wines in general. A specialized term is blanc de blancs, used in Champagne to describe a sparkling wine made exclusively from white grapes (typically Chardonnay). The phrase highlights the whiteness of the grape material and the resulting wine style.

In cooking and food terminology, blancs appears in phrases such as blancs d’œufs, meaning egg whites. In culinary technique, the related term à blanc (blind baking) refers to pre-baking a pastry crust before adding a filling; it is not typically pluralized as blancs.

In voting and elections, vote blanc refers to a blank ballot cast by a voter. Des votes blancs or des bulletins blancs indicate blank votes; this usage treats the ballot as a deliberate non-answer rather than a vote for a candidate.

Historically, les Blancs has been used in some contexts to refer to white people as a social or racial category, reflecting colonial-era language. Usage in modern writing emphasizes context and sensitivity, as terms that categorize people by race are considered inappropriate in many settings.

See also mont Blanc (White Mountain) as a geographic name and related wine terms like blanc de blancs.