cherry

Reading level: hard

Estimated CEFR level: C1 — Advanced

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. noun wood of any of various cherry trees especially the black cherry
  2. noun any of numerous trees and shrubs producing a small fleshy round fruit with a single hard stone; many also produce a valuable hardwood
  3. noun a red fruit with a single hard stone

Etymology

From Middle English chery, cherie, chirie, from Anglo-Norman cherise (mistaken as a plural) and Old English ċiris, ċirse (“cherry”), from Proto-West Germanic *kirsijā, 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.

In classic literature

A single word — an entire dictionary opens.

Type a word, a sentence, a book title, or a link to an English article. WordNet and the Classics answer.

Try

A library of classics · a vault of words · instant etymology & meaning

Continue reading