Cerise (color)

Etymology

The color name comes from the French word "cerise", meaning cherry. The word "cherry" itself comes from the Norman cherise.

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the first recorded use of cerise as a color name in English was in The Times of November 30, 1858. This date of 1858 as the date of first use of the color name is also mentioned in the 1930 book A Dictionary of Color. However, it was used at least as early as 1845 in a book of crochet patterns.

Distinction between the colors cerise and cherry red

In the 1930 book A Dictionary of Color it is pointed out that the color cerise has always been depicted as a somewhat bluer color than the actual color of a fresh uncooked cherry, which is denoted by a different redder color called cherry red. Basically, the color cerise is a depiction of the somewhat bluer color of a cooked cherry, such as the cherries in a cherry pie.

Variations of cerise

There are various tones of cerise.

Hollywood cerise

In the 1950s, a popular brand of colored pencils, Venus Paradise, had a colored pencil called Hollywood cerise which was this color. Before being renamed Hollywood cerise in the 1940s, the color had been known, since its inception in 1922, simply as Hollywood.

Deep cerise

Displayed at right is the deep tone of cerise called cerise in Crayola crayons (see the List of Crayola crayon colors).

The color name cerise has been in use for this color since 1993 by Crayola.

Irresistible

The color irresistible is displayed at right.

The color name irresistible first came into use in 1948.

The source of this color is the Plochere Color System, a color system formulated in 1948 that is widely used by interior designers.

Cerise in human culture

Academics

Sport

Television