strawberry
Pluralstrawberries
Adjectivestrawberrier, strawberriest
Pluralstrawberries
Formsstrawberrier, strawberriest
Formsstrawberries, strawberrying, strawberried
- 1A sweet, usually red, edible fruit borne by plants of the genus Fragaria.
She topped the cake with a single ripe strawberry.
Wild strawberries are smaller and more fragrant than the ones sold in stores.
UsageThe plural is strawberries (not
incorrect: strawberrys). You pick strawberries, often in strawberry season.Note
Botanists class the fruit as an accessory fruit rather than a true berry, so the second half of the name is older than the science.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 1 fact
- A strawberry is botanically an accessory fruit, not a true berry. en.wikipedia.org
- 2Containing strawberries or having their sweet, fruity flavor, whether natural or produced artificially.
He spread strawberry jam across his warm toast.
The dessert menu featured a strawberry tart topped with fresh fruit.
Note
A flavor word that normally has no degrees, yet food writing has long given it a playful superlative. The Chicago Daily Tribune sang of "the strawberriest Strawberry Ice Cream on earth" in 1941, and McCall's promised "the strawberriest strawberry jam" in 1961. Strawberrier and strawberriest are jokes of enthusiasm.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- The quoted ice-cream wording appeared in the Chicago Daily Tribune in 1941; Wiktionary specifies May 8, page 8. en.wiktionary.org
- The quoted jam wording appeared in McCall’s in 1961; the archived Wiktionary entry specifies June, page 47. archive.bukohome.com
- 3A low-growing plant of the genus Fragaria, grown for its sweet red fruit.
Each strawberry sends out runners that root into new plants.
Gardeners cover their strawberries with netting to keep birds away.
Note
Here the word names the whole plant, and English uses the same noun for the grower's plant and the fruit you eat. As a modifier it names the ground the plants cover: a strawberry patch, or the strawberry hills in Peter Christen Asbjørnsen's Folk and Fairy Tales (translated by H.L. Brækstad).
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 1 fact
- The translation contains the wording “strawberry hills.” en.wiktionary.org
- 4Of a pinkish-red color like that of strawberry-flavored foods.
He wore a plain strawberry sweater that looked like a scoop of sherbet.
She picked a strawberry nail polish for the party.
UsageCommon in strawberry blond for reddish-fair hair.
Note
The benchmark here is the bright pink of flavored products, such as lipstick, candy and ice cream, rather than the fruit itself, which sets it apart from the deep fruit-red color. It pairs naturally with blond for reddish-fair hair. Ida Liberkowski and Cynthia Malizia's Along the Amalfi Drive (2006) even grades it, describing "strawberriest blond hair," the same playful superlative found with the flavor adjective.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- Along the Amalfi Drive is by Ida Liberkowski and Cynthia Malizia and was published in 2006. en.wiktionary.org
- The book describes hair using the exact words “strawberriest blond hair.” en.wiktionary.org
Less common meanings
- 5A dark pinkish-red color, like that of the ripe fruit.
The designer chose strawberry for the accent wall.
Her gown was a vivid strawberry that glowed under the lights.
- 6A reddish mark resembling the fruit, especially a bruise, birthmark, or infant's hemangioma.
UsageThis sense occurs in strawberry mark, a common name for an infantile hemangioma, a type of red birthmark.
Similarbirthmark, hemangioma, bruise
Note
A strawberry mark is a reddish birthmark. Almina, quoted by Fiona Vera-Gray in 2024, describes "strawberry legs," skin dotted with dark, blocked pores. These are homely descriptions, not diagnoses.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- A strawberry mark is a reddish birthmark. nhs.uk
- Strawberry legs describes skin dotted with dark, blocked pores. health.clevelandclinic.org
- 7To go out and gather wild or cultivated strawberries.
On Saturday mornings in early summer, half the town goes strawberrying at the local farms.
We spent the afternoon strawberrying along the edge of the woods and ate more than we kept.
UsageMostly in go strawberrying: we went strawberrying at a farm.
Note
A verb of outings, made by turning the noun into an activity: you go strawberrying, or you strawberried in the woods. The New England Review in 1994 has a family that "strawberried in Michigan woods."
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 1 fact
- New England Review published the quoted wording in 1994, describing gathering strawberries in Michigan woods. en.wiktionary.org
- 8A sex worker whose payment for sexual services is crack cocaine.
A strawberry from the next street traded sex for a few rocks of crack.
The report called them strawberries, women who trade sex for crack cocaine.
UsageDemeaning: suitable for quoting or reporting, not for describing anyone in your own words.
Note
American street slang from the crack years. N.W.A's "Dope Man" (1987) already uses it. By the 1990s, writers such as Kathleen Boyle (1992) and a contributor to The Race Card (1997) still stopped to explain it to their readers.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- The term was American slang during the crack years. en.wiktionary.org
- N.W.A's song "Dope Man" was released in 1987. shazam.com
- 9The round red fruit of the strawberry tree, a species of Arbutus.
- 10To take on a dark pinkish-red color.
My hips and elbows were strawberrying painfully.
1986, Les Whitten, Sometimes a Hero
Showing meanings only.
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Origin
Old English strēawberġe, made of straw and berry, became Middle English strawbery. The name may reflect the custom, still common in parts of Europe, of threading strawberries on a straw or stalk to gather them.