Everyday LifeGreek → English
Cherry
/ˈtʃɛri/noun
A small round stone fruit, red to near-black, and the tree it grows on.
The Greek roots
κέρασος
kérasos
cherry tree
Literally: “fruit of the kerasos tree”
Follow a root:κέρασος1 word
The story of the word
English lost a letter here. Old North French had cherise, which English speakers heard as a plural and trimmed back to cherry, the same misreading that produced pea from pease. Pliny credits Lucullus with bringing the tree to Rome from Cerasus on the Black Sea in the 70s BC, though the tree grew in Italy already and the town may equally have been named after the fruit; the direction of the borrowing is not settled.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Latin → Old North French → English
- First recorded
- 14th century
Same family
kirschcerise
In a sentence
One cherry tree in the garden and the birds take it every June.