cherry

cherry

See also: Cherry

English

cherries of varying degrees of ripeness

Etymology

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).[1] Doublet of cerise and kirsch.

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /ˈt͡ʃɛɹi/

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛɹi

Noun

cherry (plural cherries)

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. (color) 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.
   • 1979, David Bowie & Brian Eno (lyrics and music), “Boys Keep Swinging”, in Lodger, performed by David Bowie:

     Nothing stands in your way when you're a boy / Clothes always fit ya / Life is a pop of the cherry when you're a boy

   • 1979, Gustav Hasford, The Short-Timers, New York: Bantam Books, published 1980, →ISBN, page 20:

     Philips—Sergeant Gerheim's black, silver-tongued House Mouse—is telling everybody about the one thousand cherries he has busted.

   • 1986, Too Short (lyrics), “Short Side (Blow Job Betty)”, in Raw, Uncut and X-Rated, track 5, between 6:36 and 6:43:

     So what bitch, I busted your cherry – / Hell fucking no, I don’t wanna git married

7. (graph theory) A subtree consisting of a node with exactly two leaves.
   • 2004, Suleyman Cenk Sahinalp, S Muthukrishnan, Ugur Dogrusoz, Combinatorial Pattern Matching

     Non-isomorphism is detected whenever the algorithm finds a cherry ${\\displaystyle v_{1}\\in T_{1}}$…

   • 2005, Lior Pachter, Bernd Sturmfels, Algebraic Statistics for Computational Biology

     Step 3: Output the tree T. The edge lengths of T are determined recursively: If (x,y) is a cherry connected to node z as in Step 2…

8. (cricket, slang) A cricket ball.
   • 2000, Woorkheri Raman, Indians adopt safety first tactics, ESPNcricinfo:

     The Indians have to get early wickets on the morrow and they will have the option of taking the new cherry.

   • 2007, Ben Dirs, England v West Indies 1st Test, BBC:

     Players are back out and it's Harmison to have first go with the cherry.

9. A round, red light of the kind that is typically mounted on top of a police car.

   Synonym: cherrytop

   • 2009, Sandra Brown, Smash Cut, page 333:

     "What do you think?" he asked as he wove through traffic, matching Sanford's speed but without the benefit of a flashing cherry on the roof of his car.

   • 2014 February 28, Rick Mofina, In Desperation (A Jack Gannon Novel, Book 3)‎:

     “This is a cartel operation,” Hackett said as Larson activated the dash-mounted cherry

10. The burning tip of a cigarette.
    • 1991, Douglas Coupland, “Celebrities Die”, in Generation X, New York: St. Martin's Press, OCLC 22510632:

      I'm horrified: Dag is burning holes in the roof of the car with the cherry of his cigarette.

Usage notes

Cherry includes, but is not limited to, the following species, of the genus Prunus: Prunus avium (wild cherry, mazzard, sweet cherry), P. cerasus (sour cherry), Prunus mahaleb (mahaleb cherry, rock cherry), P. pensylvanica (pin cherry, bird cherry), P. pumila (sand cherry), P. serotina (black cherry), P. serrulata (Japanese flowering cherry, hill cherry), and P. virginiana (chokecherry). Prunus also includes plums, peaches, apricots, and almonds.

Hypernyms

• (fruit): fruit
• (tree): tree, plant

Hyponyms

other types of cherry tree and fruit

• bitter cherry (Prunus emarginata)
• clove cherry (Prunus apetala)
• cyclamen cherry (Prunus cyclamina)
• duke cherry (Prunus gondouinii)
• dwarf cherry (Prunus cerasus, P. fruticosa, P. pumila; Exocarpus strictus
• evergreen cherry (Prunus ilicifolia)
• fire cherry (Prunus pensylvanica)
• greyleaf cherry (Prunus canescens)
• heart cherry (Prunus avium subsp. juliana)
• hollyleaf cherry (Prunus ilicifolia)
• humble bush cherry (Prunus humilis)
• laurel cherry (Prunus sect. Laurocerasus)
• steppe cherry (Prunus fruticosa)
• sweet cherry (Prunus avium)
• wild cherry (Prunus avium, P. serotina

Derived terms

• bite at the cherry
• bite of the cherry
• bowl of cherries
• Brazil cherry
• Brazilian cherry
• cherries jubilee
• cherry angioma
• cherry Bakewell
• cherry blossom front
• cherry-bomb
• cherry boy
• Cherry Burton
• cherry coal
• cherry graph
• Cherry Green
• Cherry Hill
• Cherry Hinton
• cherry knocking
• cherry nose
• cherry on the cake
• cherry on top
• cherry orange
• cherry pick
• cherry-picker
• cherry picking
• cherry-picking
• cherry pit
• cherry-pop
• cherry-popper
• cherry-popping
• cherry-red
• cherry top
• cherry topper
• cherry tree
• Cherry Tree
• cherry wood
• Chinese cherry
• dash cherry
• dog-cherry
• dog's cherry
• holly-leaved cherry
• Japanese cherry birch
• pop someone's cherry
• pop the cherry
• pretty please with a cherry on top
• Surinam cherry
• Suriname cherry

 

Descendants

• → Bengali: চেরি (ceri)
• → Burmese: ချယ်ရီ (hkyairi)
• → Cantonese: 車厘子／车厘子 (ce¹ lei⁴ zi²)
• → Hindi: चेरी (cerī)
• → Japanese: チェリー (cherī)
• → Kapampangan: tiéri
• → Korean: 체리 (cheri)
• → Malay: ceri
  • Indonesian: ceri
• → Maori: tiere
• → Punjabi: ਚੈਰੀ f (cairī)
• → Spanish: cherry
• → Swahili: cheri
• → Urdu: چیری‎‎ (cerī)
• → Thai: เชอร์รี (chəə-rîi)

Translations

fruit

Albanian: qershi (sq), vishnjë (sq) Arabic: كَرَز‎ m (karaz) (collective), كَرَزَة‎ f (karaza), حَبّ المُلُوك‎‎ m (ḥabb al-mulūk), قَرَاسِيَا‎ f (qarāsiyā) Egyptian Arabic: كريز‎ m (krez) Gulf Arabic: كرز‎ m (karaz) Moroccan Arabic: حب الملوك‎ (ḥabb el-mallūk) Aragonese: ziresa f Armenian: կեռաս (hy) (keṙas) (sweet cherry), բալ (hy) (bal) (sour cherry) Aromanian: cireashã f Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: ܩܸܪܲܣܝܵܐ‎ m (qirrāsya), ܓܝܼܠܵܣܬܵܐ‎ f (gīlasta) (white cherry) Asturian: cereza (ast) f, zreza (ast) f Avar: багӏли (baʻli) Azerbaijani: albalı (az) Basque: gerezi (eu) Belarusian: чарэ́шня f (čaréšnja) (sweet cherry), ві́шня (be) f (víšnja) (sour cherry) Bengali: চেরি (ceri), করজ (kôrôz) Breton: kerez (br) (collective noun), kerezenn (br) f Bulgarian: чере́ша (bg) f (čeréša) (sweet cherry), ви́шна (bg) f (víšna) (sour cherry) Burmese: ချယ်ရီ (my) (hkyairi) Catalan: cirera (ca) f Cherokee: ᎩᏔᏯ (gitaya) Chinese: Cantonese: 車厘子／车厘子 (ce1 lei4 zi2) (colloquial), 櫻桃／樱桃, 樱桃 (jing1 tou4) Mandarin: 櫻桃／樱桃 (zh) (yīngtáo) Chuvash: чие ҫырли ( čie ś̬yrli) Cornish: keresen f Czech: třešně (cs) f pl Dalmatian: cris f Danish: kirsebær (da) n Dutch: (sweet cherry) kers (nl) f, (sour cherry) morel (nl) f, kriek (nl) f (Belgium) Esperanto: ĉerizo, (sweet cherry) merizo, dolĉa ĉerizo, (sour cherry) grioto Estonian: kirss Faroese: kirsuber n Finnish: kirsikka (fi) French: cerise (fr) f, (sour cherry) griotte (fr) f Friulian: cjariese f, ceriese f Galician: cereixa (gl) f Georgian: ბალი (ka) (bali), ალუბალი (alubali) German: Kirsche (de) f Alemannic German: Chriesi n Greek: κεράσι (el) n (kerási) Ancient: κεράσιον n (kerásion) Haitian Creole: seriz Hebrew: דובדבן \\ דֻּבְדְּבָן‎ (he) m (duvd'van) Hindi: आलूबालू (hi) (ālūbālū), ओलची (hi) (olcī), गिलास (hi) (gilās) Hungarian: (sweet cherry) cseresznye (hu), (sour cherry) meggy (hu) Hunsrik: Kersch f Icelandic: kirsuber (is) n Ido: cerizo (io) Indonesian: ceri (id) Interlingua: ceresia Irish: silín (ga) m Old Irish: silín, sirín Istriot: sareza f Italian: ciliegia (it) f Japanese: (dark cherry) チェリー (cherī), (Japanese cherry) 桜ん坊 (さくらんぼ, sakuranbo) Kapampangan: Búnga ning sarésa, Sarésang mámbúnga, Tiéri Kazakh: шие (şie) Korean: 버찌 (ko) (beojji), 체리 (ko) (cheri) Kumyk: жие (jiye) Kurdish: Central Kurdish: گێلاس‎ (ku) (gêlas) Northern Kurdish: qeresî (ku), gêlaz (ku) f Kashmiri: پرَٛبٕدٔر‎ m, گِلآس‎ m (gilās) Kyrgyz: чие (ky) (çiye), алча (ky) (alça) Lao: ໝາກເຊີຣິ (māk sœ̄ ri) Latgalian: (sour cherry) vīšne f, (sweet cherry) tresneica f Latin: cerasum n Latvian: ķirsis m Laz: მბული (mbuli) (sweet cherry), ვიშნე (vişne) (sour cherry) Ligurian: çêxa f Lithuanian: vyšnia f Lombard: sciresa (lmo) f Low German: Kars (nds) f Dutch Low Saxon: kaars (Gronings), kaarze (Gronings) Luxembourgish: Kiischt f Macedonian: цре́ша f (créša) (sweet cherry), ви́шна f (víšna) (sour cherry) Malay: ceri Maltese: ċirasa f Manchu: ᡳᠩᡨᠣᡵᡳ (ingtori) Manx: shillish Maori: tiere (mi) Middle English: cheri Middle Korean: 멎 (mèc) Mongolian: интоор (mn) (intoor) Navajo: didzéchííʼ Neapolitan: cerasa Nogai: аьлбел ( älbel) Norman: chérise f (Jersey), tchoeur m (Jersey) Norwegian: kirsebær n, morell m (sweet cherry) Occitan: cerièra (oc) f Old English: ciris, cirse f Ossetian: бал (bal) Persian: گیلاس‎ (fa) (gilâs) Punjabi: ਚੈਰੀ f (cairī), ਸ਼ਾਹਦਾਣਾ m (śāhdāṇā), ਗਲਾਸ (pa) m (galās) Plautdietsch: Kjoasch f Polish: (sweet cherry) czereśnia (pl) f, (sour cherry) wiśnia (pl) f Portuguese: cereja (pt) f Romanian: (sweet cherry) cireașă (ro) f, (sour cherry) vișină (ro) f Romansch: tscharescha f (Rumantsch Grischun), tscherescha (Sursilvan), tschariescha f (Sutsilvan, Surmiran), tschirescha f (Puter, Vallader) Russian: (sweet cherry) чере́шня (ru) f (čeréšnja), (sour cherry) ви́шня (ru) f (víšnja) Scottish Gaelic: sirist f, siris f Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: (sweet cherry) трешња f, (sour cherry) вишња f Roman: (sweet cherry) trešnja (sh) f, (sour cherry) višnja (sh) f Sicilian: cirasa (scn) f Silesian: trzyśńa Slovak: čerešňa (sk) f Slovene: (sweet cherry) češnja (sl) f, (sour cherry) višnja (sl) f Sorbian: Lower Sorbian: wišnja f Spanish: cereza (es) f, guinda (es) f Svan: ჰებრა (hebra) Swahili: cheri Swedish: körsbär (sv) n, bigarrå Tagalog: seresa Tajik: гелос‍ (gelos‍), олуболу (tg) (olubolu), гелос (tg) (gelos) Tamil: சேலாப்பழம் (ta) (cēlāppaḻam) Taos: ə̂bena Tarantino: ceráse Thai: เชอร์รี่ (chəə-rîi) Tibetan: སེའུ (se'u) Turkish: kiraz (tr) (sweet), vişne (tr) (sour), albalı (tr) Ukrainian: чере́шня f (čeréšnja) (sweet cherry), ви́шня (uk) f (výšnja) (sour cherry) Urdu: چیری‎ f (cerī) Uyghur: گىلاس‎ (gilas) Uzbek: olcha (uz) Venetian: siréxa, saréxa, sariéxa, siaréxa, çaréxa, çeriéxa, zharéxa Vietnamese: quả anh đào (果櫻桃) Vilamovian: kiysia f Volapük: cel (vo) Võro: vislamari, visnamari, vissel Walloon: ceréjhe (wa) f Welsh: ceiriosen (cy) f Yiddish: קאַרש‎ f (karsh)

tree

Armenian: կեռասենի (hy) (keṙaseni) (sweet cherry), բալենի (hy) (baleni) (sour cherry) Asturian: cerezal (ast) f, zrezal (ast) f Azerbaijani: albalı ağacı Basque: gerezi (eu) Breton: kerezenn (br) f Bulgarian: (sweet cherry) чере́ша (bg) f (čeréša), (sour cherry) ви́шна (bg) f (víšna), череша (bg) f (čereša), вишна (bg) f (višna) Catalan: cirerer (ca) m Chinese: Mandarin: 櫻桃樹／樱桃树 (yīngtáoshù) Czech: třešeň (cs) f Danish: kirsebærtræ (da) n Dutch: kerselaar (nl) m, (sour cherry) kriekenboom f Esperanto: ĉerizarbo, ĉerizujo Estonian: kirsipuu Faroese: kirsuberjatræ n Finnish: kirsikkapuu (fi) French: cerisier (fr) m Friulian: cjariesâr m, ceriesâr m Galician: cerdeira (gl) f, cereixeira (gl) f German: Kirschbaum (de) m, Kirschenbaum m Alemannic German: Chriesibaum m Greek: κερασιά (el) f (kerasiá) Ancient: κέρασος m or f (kérasos), κερασέα f (keraséa), κερασία f (kerasía) Hebrew: עץ דובדבן‎ m ('etz duvdevan) Hunsrik: Kerschebaam m Icelandic: kirsuberjatré (is) n Ido: ceriziero (io) Indonesian: pohon ceri Interlingua: ceresiero Irish: crann silíní m Italian: ciliegio (it) m Japanese: 桜 (ja) (さくら, sakura) Kazakh: шие ағашы (şie ağaşy) Kumyk: жие (jiye) Kurdish: Central Kurdish: دار گێلاس‎ (dar gêlas) Lao: ກເຊີຣິ (ka sœ̄ ri) Latgalian: vīšne f Latin: cerasus f Lithuanian: vyšnia f Lombard: sciresa (lmo) f Luxembourgish: Kiischtebam m Macedonian: цре́ша f (créša) (sweet cherry), ви́шна f (víšna) (sour cherry) Middle English: cheri Navajo: didzéchííʼ Ngarrindjeri: panpandi Nogai: аьлбели (älbeli) Norman: chérîsyi m (Jersey), tchoeuryi m (Jersey) Norwegian: kirsebærtre n Polish: wiśnia (pl) f Portuguese: cerejeira (pt) f Romanian: cireș (ro) m, vișin (ro) m Russian: ви́шня (ru) f (víšnja), чере́шня (ru) f (čeréšnja) (sweet cherry), са́кура (ru) f (sákura) (Japanese cherry) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: трешња f (sweet cherry), вишња f (sour cherry) Roman: trešnja (sh) f (sweet cherry), višnja (sh) f (sour cherry) Sicilian: cirasaru m Slovak: čerešňa (sk) f Slovene: češnja (sl) f (sweet cherry), višnja (sl) f (sour cherry) Sorbian: Lower Sorbian: wišnja f Spanish: cerezo (es) m (Prunus avium), (Prunus cerasus) guindo (es) m Svan: ჰებრა (hebra) Swahili: mcheri Swedish: körsbärsträd (sv), körsbär (sv) Tagalog: seresa Tajik: дарахти олуболу (daraxti olubolu) Turkish: kiraz (tr), kiraz ağacı Uzbek: olcha (uz) Vietnamese: cây anh đào (𣘃櫻桃) Vilamovian: kiysiabaojm m Volapük: celep (vo), celabim (vo) Võro: visnapuu, vislapuu Yiddish: קאַרשנבוים‎ m (karshnboym)

wood

Breton: kerezeg f Bulgarian: череша (bg) f (čereša) Danish: kirsebærtræ (da) n Dutch: kersenhout n, kers (nl) Finnish: kirsikkapuu (fi) Galician: cerdeira (gl) f German: Kirschenholz m Alemannic German: Chriesiholz n Greek: κερασιά (el) f (kerasiá) Hebrew: עץ דובדבן‎ ('etz duvdevan) Icelandic: kirsuberjaviður m Italian: ciliegio (it) m Macedonian: цреша f (creša) Norwegian: kirsebærtre n Polish: wiśnia (pl) n Portuguese: cerejeira (pt) f Russian: ви́шня (ru) f (víšnja) Swedish: körsbärsträ (sv), körsbär (sv) Turkish: kiraz kerestesi Vietnamese: gỗ anh đào (楛櫻桃)

color

Bulgarian: черешов m (čerešov) Catalan: cirera (ca) f Czech: višňová Danish: kirsebærfarvet Finnish: kirsikanpunainen Galician: cereixa (gl) f Greek: κερασί n (kerasí), κερασένιο n (kerasénio), άλικο (el) n (áliko) Italian: ciliegia (it) Lithuanian: vyšninis m Norwegian: kirsebær Polish: wiśniowy (pl) m Portuguese: cereja (pt) m Russian: вишнёвый (ru) m (višnjóvyj) Spanish: guinda (es) m or f, cereza (es) m or f Swahili: rangi ya cheri Swedish: körsbärsfärgad, körsbär (sv) Turkish: kiraz rengi, vişne rengi Ukrainian: вишневий (uk) (vyšnevyj) Vietnamese: màu đỏ anh đào (𬜝𣠶櫻桃)

slang: virginity

Bulgarian: девствена ципа f (devstvena cipa) Finnish: neitsyys (fi), poikuus (fi) (of a man) French: cerise (fr) f Portuguese: cabaço (pt) m Russian: це́лка (ru) f (célka) Ukrainian: целка (celka)

graph theory: subtree consisting of two nodes

Finnish: kahdesta lehtisolmusta koostuva alipuu

See also

• gean

Adjective

cherry (comparative cherrier or more cherry, superlative cherriest or most cherry)

1. Containing or having the taste of cherries.
2. Of a bright red colour; cherry red.

   cherry:  

3. (informal, often of cars) In excellent condition; mint condition.
   • 2003, Wilson, John Morgan, Blind Eye‎, St. Martin’s Press, →ISBN, page 108:

     A few years earlier, I’d restored my ’65 Mustang convertible to cherry condition—fire engine red, with matching tuck-and-roll—and I wasn’t surprised that it drew attention.

   • 2006, "Weird Al" Yankovic (lyrics), “White & Nerdy”, in Straight Outta Lynwood, performed by "Weird Al" Yankovic:

     All of my action figures are cherry

Derived terms

terms derived from cherry

• African cherry orange (Citropsis articulata)
• Barbados cherry (Malpighia glabra)
• bird-cherry ermine (Yponomeuta evonymella)
• bowl of cherries
• cherry currant (Ribes rubrum)
• bladder cherry (Alkekengi officinarum, syn. Physalis alkekengi)
• bob-cherry
• cherry pepper (Capsicum annuum)
• cherry pitter
• cherry Bakewell tart
• cherry birch (Betula lenta)
• cherry blossom
• cherry bomb
• cherry brandy
• cherry laurel (Prunus caroliniana, P. laurocerasus)
• cherry picker
• cherry pie
• cherry plum (Prunus cerasifera)
• cherry red
• cherry tomato (Solanum lycopersicum var. cerasiforme)
• cherry-pick
• cherrystone
• cherrywood
• cornelian cherry (Cornus subg. Arctocrania, C. subg. Cornus, C. mas)
• ground cherry (Physalis spp.)
• Jerusalem cherry (Solanum pseudocapsicum)
• maraschino cherry
• pop someone’s cherry
• winter cherry (Solanum pseudocapsicum, Withania somnifera, Physalis spp.)

Related terms

• cerise

Translations

flavour

Bulgarian: черешов (čerešov), вишнев (višnev) Czech: třešňový (cs) m Dutch: met kersensmaak, kersen- (nl) Esperanto: ĉeriza Finnish: kirsikanmakuinen French: goût cerise Lithuanian: vyšninis m Polish: wiśniowy (pl) Romanian: please add this translation if you can Russian: вишнёвый (ru) (višnjóvyj) Swedish: med körsbärssmak

colour

Czech: višňová f Dutch: kersen- (nl) Esperanto: ĉerizkolora Finnish: kirsikanpunainen Ido: cerizea (io) Lithuanian: vyšninis m Portuguese: cereja (pt) Romanian: (please verify) vișiniu (ro) Russian: вишнёвый (ru) (višnjóvyj) Swedish: körsbärsfärgad Turkish: kiraz rengi

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

Interlingua: (please verify) ceresia Volapük: (please verify) cel (vo)

See also

• (reds) red; blood red, brick red, burgundy, cardinal, carmine, carnation, cerise, cherry, cherry red, Chinese red, cinnabar, claret, crimson, damask, fire brick, fire engine red, flame, flamingo, fuchsia, garnet, geranium, gules, hot pink, incarnadine, Indian red, magenta, maroon, misty rose, nacarat, oxblood, pillar-box red, pink, Pompeian red, poppy, raspberry, red violet, rose, rouge, ruby, ruddy, salmon, sanguine, scarlet, shocking pink, stammel, strawberry, Turkey red, Venetian red, vermillion, vinaceous, vinous, violet red, wine ^{(Category: en:Reds)}

• 🍒
• black birch
• Chinese lantern
• gean
• kirsch
• marasca (Prunus cerasus var. marasca)
• morello
• myrobalan
• oxheart
• sweet birch
• tomatillo
• tommyto

References

1. Robert Stephen Paul Beekes (2010), “κέρασος”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek, Brill, →ISBN

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French

Etymology

From English cherry.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʃɛ.ʁi/, /ʃe.ʁi/, /tʃɛ.ʁi/, /tʃe.ʁi/

Noun

cherry m (plural cherrys or cherries)

1. cherry brandy

Further reading

• “cherry”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

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Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈt͡ʃeri/ [ˈt͡ʃe.ri]
• Rhymes: -eri
• Syllabification: che‧rry

Noun

cherry m (plural cherrys or cherries)

1. cherry tomato