Cerise
A dark pink named after the French word for cherry
Cerise is a deep pink colour whose name comes from the French word for cherry. It first appeared in English in the mid-1800s and has since been used for various vivid pink shades, including in coloured pencils and crayons.
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- Cerise means cherry in French
- First recorded as a colour name in English in 1858
- Crayola introduced a cerise crayon in 1993
- Hollywood cerise was a coloured pencil shade in the 1950s
What colour is Cerise?
Cerise is a dark pink shade, standing out for its strong, vivid tone that is neither a classic red nor a pale pink. Its name links it to the colour of cherries, but in practice, cerise is often used for a range of deep, lively pinks. It is distinct from softer pinks and sits close to fuchsia and rose on the colour spectrum.
Where does Cerise come from?
The name cerise comes from the French word for cherry. The Oxford English Dictionary notes its first use in English in 1858, but it was found in print as early as 1845 in a crochet pattern book. Over time, the name has been used for several related shades of deep pink.
Pink around the world
What the pink and magenta family means from country to country.
The president's office in Buenos Aires is the Casa Rosada, the Pink House. A popular story says its paint once had ox blood mixed in, though this is not proven.
Politics and protestSource: Casa RosadaThe third day of the New Year's Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground is Jane McGrath Day. The crowd wears pink to raise money for breast cancer nurses.
Protection and healingHopeSource: McGrath FoundationThe Rose Valley near Kazanlak grows pink damask roses for rose oil. The harvest in late May and June is marked by a festival and the crowning of a Rose Queen.
Nature and renewalFestival and celebrationJoySource: Rose Valley, BulgariaToulouse is called la Ville Rose, the pink city, for the soft pink brick of its old buildings.
Nature and renewalSource: ToulouseIn November 2003 protesters entered parliament carrying roses, and the president resigned without bloodshed. The change of power is called the Rose Revolution.
Politics and protestHopeSource: Rose RevolutionAt Holi, the spring festival of colours, friends and strangers smear each other with gulal, a coloured powder. Pink and red gulal are the best known shades.
Festival and celebrationJoySource: HoliShades and relatives of Cerise
Cerise has several related tones. Hollywood cerise, a name used for coloured pencils in the 1950s, was previously called Hollywood from 1922. Deep cerise is the name for a Crayola crayon shade since 1993. The colour irresistible, used in interior design, matches another shade called raspberry rose.
Colours that go with Cerise
Harmonies are worked out from the value #DE3163. Contrast ratios follow the WCAG 2 formula.
Questions people ask about Cerise
What colour is cerise?
Cerise is a dark pink shade, often described as vivid and strong, and is named after the colour of cherries.
Where does the name cerise come from?
The name comes from the French word for cherry, reflecting the colour's resemblance to the fruit.
When was cerise first used as a colour name in English?
Cerise was first recorded as a colour name in English in 1858, though it appeared in print as early as 1845.
Are there different shades of cerise?
Yes, cerise has several variations, including Hollywood cerise, deep cerise (a Crayola crayon colour), and irresistible.
Good reading and sources
The facts on this page come from the Wikipedia article "Cerise (color)", written by its contributors and used under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence, and from its Wikidata record (CC0). Rang rewrote the text in its own words, with AI assistance, and compares every page with the article to make sure no passage is copied. It may be reused under the same CC BY-SA 4.0 licence with a link back.
It may contain mistakes. The swatch is an approximation: named colours are not fixed standards, and every screen shows them a little differently. If something is wrong, tell us. Last refreshed 2026-10-03.
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