sherry

noun

sher·​ry ˈsher-ē 

plural sherries

: a Spanish fortified wine with a distinctive nutty flavor

also : a similar wine produced elsewhere

Examples of sherry in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

That's the case with the newest release from Speyside distillery The GlenAllachie, which has unveiled a 19-year-old single malt finished in extraordinarily rare ex-solera sherry casks. —Emily Price, Forbes.com, 12 June 2026

The second is Oloroso Sherry Cask Finished, also aged for four years in new charred oak and then another four in 59-gallon Oloroso sherry casks from Spain, and bottled at 110 proof. —Jonah Flicker, Robb Report, 10 June 2026

Start with the Oh Snap, a long, refreshing glass of gin, manzanilla sherry, sugar snap peas, citrus, absinthe, and tonic. —Virginia Miller, Bon Appetit Magazine, 8 June 2026

Fortified wines like sherry and many liqueurs can remain fresh for months if refrigerated. —Kait Hanson, Southern Living, 29 May 2026

Word History

Etymology

alteration of earlier sherris (taken as plural), from Xeres (now Jerez), Spain

First Known Use

1584, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for sherry

• aerie
• airy
• arie
• barre
• cherry
• clary
• dairy
• eyrie
• faerie
• faery
• fairy
• ferry

Kids Definition

sherry

noun

sher·​ry ˈsher-ē 

plural sherries

: a wine with a nutty flavor

Etymology

named for Xeres (now spelled Jerez), a city in Spain where the wine was originally made

Word Origin

It is common to name wines after the part of a country where they are made. The wine called sherry today was first made in a town originally called, in Spanish, Xeres. The English approximation of the Spanish pronunciation was \ˈsher-ēz\, spelled sherris. After a time, people thought that sherris was a plural and so made a singular form, sherry, by cutting off the supposed plural ending. The \sh\ sound symbolized by x in Spanish (later by j) changed to a \ḵ\ or \h\, so that the modern Spanish pronunciation of Jerez is even less like English sherry.