See cherry on top in All languages combined, or Wiktionary
{
"etymology_text": "An allusion to a cake being decorated on top with one or more cherries.",
"forms": [
{
"form": "cherries on top",
"tags": [
"plural"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "cherries on top",
"head": "cherry on top"
},
"expansion": "cherry on top (plural cherries on top)",
"name": "en-noun"
}
],
"hyphenations": [
{
"parts": [
"cher",
"ry on top"
]
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "noun",
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "Pages with 1 entry",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "Pages with entries",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
}
],
"derived": [
{
"word": "pretty please with a cherry on top"
}
],
"examples": [
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
76,
91
]
],
"ref": "1980, Garson Kanin, chapter XLIX, in Smash, New York, N.Y.: Viking Books, published October 1980, →ISBN, page 426:",
"text": "To me—the doing is what counts. Success—fame or fortune—sure, those are the cherries on top. Try to find the joy in the doing.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
21,
36
]
],
"ref": "2016, Rachel Hauck, The Wedding Shop, Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, →ISBN, page 70:",
"text": "The memories are the cherries on top.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
206,
219
]
],
"ref": "2022 November 21, David Hytner, “World Cup 2022: England open World Cup in style with Bukayo Saka double in 6–2 rout of Iran”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 16 Aug 2025:",
"text": "Everything is possible, [Gareth] Southgate had said on Sunday, as he sought to consign the dismal [UEFA] Nations League campaign to unwanted history. This was a display to fire optimism. There was even the cherry on top of a late sixth for Jack Grealish, who had entered as a substitute, from a pull-back from another replacement, Callum Wilson.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
141,
154
]
],
"ref": "2022 December 28, Christian Wolmar, “Annus Horribilus Must Mark a Turning Point for Our Railway”, in Rail, number 973, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire: Bauer Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 44:",
"text": "But at least investment was on the agenda. Now the state of the industry can be described as blancmange, an incoherent muddle without even a cherry on top. And that has not gone unnoticed.",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"Synonym of icing on the cake (“a thing which intensifies the appreciation of something already good, or (ironic) the regretting of something already bad”)."
],
"id": "en-cherry_on_top-en-noun--pB~K3eH",
"links": [
[
"icing on the cake",
"icing on the cake#English"
],
[
"thing",
"thing"
],
[
"intensifies",
"intensify#Verb"
],
[
"appreciation",
"appreciation"
],
[
"good",
"good#Adjective"
],
[
"ironic",
"irony"
],
[
"regretting",
"regret#Verb"
],
[
"bad",
"bad#Adjective"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(idiomatic) Synonym of icing on the cake (“a thing which intensifies the appreciation of something already good, or (ironic) the regretting of something already bad”)."
],
"synonyms": [
{
"word": "cherry on the cake"
},
{
"word": "frosting on the cake"
},
{
"extra": "(“a thing which intensifies the appreciation of something already good, or (ironic) the regretting of something already bad”)",
"tags": [
"synonym",
"synonym-of"
],
"word": "icing on the cake"
}
],
"tags": [
"idiomatic"
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"ipa": "/ˌt͡ʃɛɹi ɒn ˈtɒp/",
"tags": [
"Received-Pronunciation"
]
},
{
"ipa": "/ˌt͡ʃɛɹi ɑn ˈtɑp/",
"tags": [
"General-American"
]
},
{
"audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-cherry on top.wav",
"mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/0/00/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Naomi_Persephone_Amethyst_%28NaomiAmethyst%29-cherry_on_top.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Naomi_Persephone_Amethyst_%28NaomiAmethyst%29-cherry_on_top.wav.mp3",
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},
{
"audio": "En-au-cherry on top.ogg",
"mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/a/ae/En-au-cherry_on_top.ogg/En-au-cherry_on_top.ogg.mp3",
"ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ae/En-au-cherry_on_top.ogg"
},
{
"rhymes": "-ɒp"
}
],
"word": "cherry on top"
}
{
"derived": [
{
"word": "pretty please with a cherry on top"
}
],
"etymology_text": "An allusion to a cake being decorated on top with one or more cherries.",
"forms": [
{
"form": "cherries on top",
"tags": [
"plural"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "cherries on top",
"head": "cherry on top"
},
"expansion": "cherry on top (plural cherries on top)",
"name": "en-noun"
}
],
"hyphenations": [
{
"parts": [
"cher",
"ry on top"
]
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "noun",
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
"English countable nouns",
"English entries with incorrect language header",
"English idioms",
"English lemmas",
"English multiword terms",
"English nouns",
"English terms with quotations",
"Pages with 1 entry",
"Pages with entries",
"Rhymes:English/ɒp",
"Rhymes:English/ɒp/4 syllables"
],
"examples": [
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
76,
91
]
],
"ref": "1980, Garson Kanin, chapter XLIX, in Smash, New York, N.Y.: Viking Books, published October 1980, →ISBN, page 426:",
"text": "To me—the doing is what counts. Success—fame or fortune—sure, those are the cherries on top. Try to find the joy in the doing.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
21,
36
]
],
"ref": "2016, Rachel Hauck, The Wedding Shop, Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, →ISBN, page 70:",
"text": "The memories are the cherries on top.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
206,
219
]
],
"ref": "2022 November 21, David Hytner, “World Cup 2022: England open World Cup in style with Bukayo Saka double in 6–2 rout of Iran”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 16 Aug 2025:",
"text": "Everything is possible, [Gareth] Southgate had said on Sunday, as he sought to consign the dismal [UEFA] Nations League campaign to unwanted history. This was a display to fire optimism. There was even the cherry on top of a late sixth for Jack Grealish, who had entered as a substitute, from a pull-back from another replacement, Callum Wilson.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
141,
154
]
],
"ref": "2022 December 28, Christian Wolmar, “Annus Horribilus Must Mark a Turning Point for Our Railway”, in Rail, number 973, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire: Bauer Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 44:",
"text": "But at least investment was on the agenda. Now the state of the industry can be described as blancmange, an incoherent muddle without even a cherry on top. And that has not gone unnoticed.",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"Synonym of icing on the cake (“a thing which intensifies the appreciation of something already good, or (ironic) the regretting of something already bad”)."
],
"links": [
[
"icing on the cake",
"icing on the cake#English"
],
[
"thing",
"thing"
],
[
"intensifies",
"intensify#Verb"
],
[
"appreciation",
"appreciation"
],
[
"good",
"good#Adjective"
],
[
"ironic",
"irony"
],
[
"regretting",
"regret#Verb"
],
[
"bad",
"bad#Adjective"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(idiomatic) Synonym of icing on the cake (“a thing which intensifies the appreciation of something already good, or (ironic) the regretting of something already bad”)."
],
"synonyms": [
{
"word": "cherry on the cake"
},
{
"word": "frosting on the cake"
},
{
"extra": "(“a thing which intensifies the appreciation of something already good, or (ironic) the regretting of something already bad”)",
"tags": [
"synonym",
"synonym-of"
],
"word": "icing on the cake"
}
],
"tags": [
"idiomatic"
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"ipa": "/ˌt͡ʃɛɹi ɒn ˈtɒp/",
"tags": [
"Received-Pronunciation"
]
},
{
"ipa": "/ˌt͡ʃɛɹi ɑn ˈtɑp/",
"tags": [
"General-American"
]
},
{
"audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-cherry on top.wav",
"mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/0/00/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Naomi_Persephone_Amethyst_%28NaomiAmethyst%29-cherry_on_top.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Naomi_Persephone_Amethyst_%28NaomiAmethyst%29-cherry_on_top.wav.mp3",
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},
{
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"mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/a/ae/En-au-cherry_on_top.ogg/En-au-cherry_on_top.ogg.mp3",
"ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ae/En-au-cherry_on_top.ogg"
},
{
"rhymes": "-ɒp"
}
],
"word": "cherry on top"
}
Download raw JSONL data for cherry on top meaning in English (4.4kB)
This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-01-16 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-01-01 using wiktextract (d1270d2 and 9905b1f). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.
If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.