Cherished

How to spell cherished

9 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce cherished

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does cherished mean?

1. adjectiveTreasured and held dear over time.
2. verbHeld dear or cared for tenderly, in the past tense.

Cherished in a sentence

• adjective

  The locket was her most cherished possession.

• verb

  She always cherished the letters her grandmother sent.

• adjective

  Family photographs remain cherished keepsakes long after the people have gone.

• verb

  They cherished every visit because the chances to meet were so rare.

Where does cherished come from?

Language of origin: French

This word traces back to the Latin carus, which meant 'dear, beloved, or costly', the same root that gives us 'charity' and 'caress'. From carus came the Old French adjective cher, meaning 'dear', and the verb cherir, whose stem cheriss- supplied forms like cherissant. English borrowed the verb 'cherish' in the 1300s with the sense of holding something dear and caring for it tenderly. The form 'cherished' is the past tense and past participle, and it now works comfortably as an adjective describing anything held precious. The spelling keeps the French -ish stem rather than the Latin c-a-r-, which is why the word looks nothing like its cousin 'caress' despite sharing an ancestor.

How the word is built

• cher- (dear, from French cher)
• -ish (verb-forming suffix)
• -ed (past participle / adjective ending)