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

Besides the obvious rum base, each mixologist shared their special ingredients — Rae used orgeat (an almond liquor) and a homemade guava syrup made from jam, Brown’s version included dry sherry, hibiscus and strawberry syrup, and Johnson’s special sauce was cognac and orange liquor. —Essence, 6 July 2025

While that’s going, smoky roasted peppers and raw cherry tomatoes are dressed in sherry vinegar to balance their natural sweetness and acidity. —The Bon Appétit Staff, Bon Appetit Magazine, 4 July 2025

This one is a blended malt whisky aged in first-fill sherry casks that’s proven to be a particular hit in Asian markets. —Felipe Schrieberg, Forbes.com, 1 July 2025

Most Oban whisky is aged in a combination of bourbon barrels and sherry casks, but is nothing like the new 15-year-old Cask Strength Sherry Cask Finish. —Jonah Flicker, Robb Report, 22 June 2025

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named for Xeres (now spelled Jerez), a city in Spain where the wine was originally made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