cherry

Meaning

Noun

1. A small fruit, usually red, black or yellow, with a smooth hard seed and a short hard stem.
2. Prunus subg. Cerasus, trees or shrubs that bear cherries.
3. The wood of a cherry tree.
4. Cherry red.
5. The fruit of the coffee plant, containing the seeds or beans.
6. (slang) Virginity, especially female virginity as embodied by a hymen.
7. A subtree consisting of a node with exactly two leaves.
8. (slang) A red cricket ball.
9. (slang) A reddish mark left on the bat by the impact of the ball.
10. A round, red light of the kind that is typically mounted on top of a police car.
11. The burning tip of a cigarette.

Adj

1. Containing or having the taste of cherries.
2. Of a bright red color; cherry red.
3. (informal, often) In excellent condition; mint condition.

Verb

1. (dated, obsolete, transitive) To redden; to infuse a cherrylike color to something.
2. (dated, obsolete, transitive) To cheer, to delight.

Synonyms

cherry tree

cerise

cherry blossom

🌸

cherry red

cherries

🍒

cherry-tree

crimson

cherry-red

blood-red

carmine

red

reddish

ruby

ruddy

scarlet

wild cherry

ruby-red

cherry-coloured

cherry-wood

cherry wood

flowering cherry

sloe

sour cherry

sweet cherry

virgin

virginity

pie cherry

morello cherry

bullace

gean

hymen

madder

maiden

cerasum

redden

cherrywood

Prunus cerasus

cerasus

Translations

cerise

Kirsche

ciliegia

cereja

cereza

kers

cirera

κεράσι

cerisier

ciliegio

cerejeira

cerasus

kiraz

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈt͡ʃɛɹi/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: chery

Inherited from Old English: ċiris

In summary

From Middle English chery, cherie, chirie, from Anglo-Norman cherise (mistaken as a plural) and Old English ċiris, ċirse (“cherry”), both ultimately from Vulgar Latin ceresia, derived from Late Latin ceresium, cerasium, from Ancient Greek κεράσιον (kerásion, “cherry fruit”), from κερασός (kerasós, “bird cherry”), and ultimately possibly of Anatolian origin (the intervocalic σ suggests a pre-Greek origin for the word). Doublet of cerise, Giresun, and kirsch.