Meanings
plural chokecherries · alternative choke cherry
- Any of several American wild cherry trees, especially Prunus virginiana.
The youngster-loved chokecherry grows both as a bushy shrub and as a tree seldom higher than 22 feet, its branches bending with clusters of darkening red or blackish purple berrylike drupes . . .
1981, Bradford Angier, Field Guide to Medicinal Wild Plants - The fruit of this plant.
There were handfuls of chokecherries for dessert and a lemonade made from sumac.
2013, Philipp Meyer, The Son, Simon & Schuster, published 2014, page 72
Synonyms & antonyms
nouna common wild cherry of eastern North America having small bitter black berries favored by birds
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
From choke + cherry, so called from the extreme astringency of the fresh fruit.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Catalan cirerer de Virgínia
- cirerer de Virgíniatree
German Virginische Traubenkirsche
- Virginische Traubenkirschetree
Norwegian Bokmål virginiahegg
- virginiaheggtree
Swedish virginiahägg
- virginiahäggtree
Ukrainian черемха, черемха
- черемха (čeremxa)tree
- черемха (čeremxa)fruit
Cite this entry
chokecherry. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/chokecherry
“chokecherry.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/chokecherry. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “chokecherry,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/chokecherry.
Source: chokecherry on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.