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

Captivo Oak Voyage was aged for two decades in American oak ex-bourbon barrels before spending some time in American oak Oloroso sherry butts. — Jonah Flicker, Robb Report, 9 Nov. 2026

Meanwhile, cook ¼ cup sherry vinegar or red wine vinegar, 2 Tbsp. — Andy Baraghani, Bon Appetit Magazine, 3 Nov. 2026

Another creation, the carrot bamboo, brings together vermouth, gin, manzanilla sherry, carrot, yuzu, and shiso, drawing on flavors from both Europe and Asia. — Alessia Armenise, Condé Nast Traveler, 9 Oct. 2026

It’s brined, then dried with baking powder before it’s basted with roasted garlic, sherry vinegar, honey and mustard. — Katelyn Umholtz, Kansas City Star, 25 Sep. 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named for Xeres (now spelled Jerez), a city in Spain where the wine was originally made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.