What would you count as an adaptor cable?

I am organizing audio cables at my workplace. XLR, quater inch, RCA ect. I am a student in an a/v office and my goal is to make our cable rack easy to navigate, even for noobs. I am trying to differentiate from what I would call a "standard cable" and an "adaptor cable." Obviously cables that go from XLR or RCA to a 1/4 inch plug is an adapter. But I also have some XLR Male to XLR Female cables that are long and short. Should the short cable be included as adaptors or should only cables that convert the plug type be considered adaptors?