The present participle of 'cherry,' meaning to pick cherries or to decorate with cherries.
From 'cherry' (the fruit noun used as a verb) plus '-ing' suffix. 'Cherry' derives from Old French 'cerise' through Medieval Latin from Greek 'kerasion', originally referring to the fruit from Cerasus in Anatolia.
The verb 'cherry' is relatively rare in modern English, but 'cherry-pick' (a later extension) became popular in business jargon to mean selecting only the best items—much like actual cherry picking requires choosing the ripest fruits.
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