"cherry" in seven languages
Meaningcherry
Spanish
cereza
/θeˈɾeθa/
fem.inherited
French
cerise
/səʁiz/
fem.inherited
Italian
ciliegia
/tʃiˈljɛdʒa/
fem.inherited
The r turned to l by dissimilation; plural ciliegie.
Portuguese
cereja
/seˈɾeʒɐ/
fem.inherited
Romanian
cireașă
/tʃiˈre̯aʃə/
fem.inherited
Plural cireșe.
Catalan
cirera
/siˈɾeɾə/
fem.inherited
English
cherry
/ˈtʃɛɹi/
from Latin/French · Old Northern French cherise, taken for a plural
English → ItaliancherryciliegiaCognateSame source — inherited, learned or borrowed. You can recognize it.What English and Italian share
The Latin ancestor
*CERESIAM (from CERASUM)‘cherry (Greek kerasós)’
All six sisters descend from it, unless marked otherwise below.
The story
A textbook soft c: [θ] in cereza, [s] in cerise, cereja and cirera, [tʃ] in ciliegia and cireașă — and Romanian turns the -SI- into ș. English cherry lost its s because cherise sounded like a plural.
Sound laws at work
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In a sentence
- esHe comprado un kilo de cerezas.
- frJ'ai acheté un kilo de cerises.
- itHo comprato un chilo di ciliegie.
- ptComprei um quilo de cerejas.
- roAm cumpărat un kilogram de cireșe.
- caHe comprat un quilo de cireres.
- enI bought a kilo of cherries.