cherry
noun · adjective
Simple meaning
A red fruit with a single hard stone.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
chehreeSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈtʃɛɹi
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
A red fruit with a single hard stone
A small fruit, usually red, black or yellow, with a smooth hard seed and a short hard stem.
Prunus subg. Cerasus, trees or shrubs that bear cherries.
Wood of any of various cherry trees especially the black cherry
The fruit of the coffee plant, containing the seeds or beans.
A round, red light of the kind that is typically mounted on top of a police car.
adjective
informaloften of cars
In excellent condition; mint condition.
Containing or having the taste of cherries.
Of a bright red color; cherry red.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A2 · Elementary (estimated)
- Frequency
- Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A red fruit with a single hard stone
Used this way, cherry is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use cherry
- “I like to put a bright red cherry on top of my ice cream sundae.”
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Asian wild crab apple cultivated in many varieties for it small acid usually red fruit used for preserving.
Common birch of the eastern United States having spicy brown bark yielding a volatile oil and hard dark wood used for furniture.
A red ball-shaped firecracker with high explosive power.
Asian wild crab apple cultivated in many varieties for it small acid usually red fruit used for preserving.
Frequently cultivated Eurasian evergreen shrub or small tree having showy clusters of white flowers and glossy foliage and yielding oil similar to bitter almond oil.
Plant bearing small rounded usually pungent fruits.
Related words
Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.
A common wild cherry of eastern North America having small bitter black berries favored by birds.
Related Words
Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: red fruit with a single hard stone
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Words can change meaning depending on context.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.