Like many other fruits, cherries have a distinctly sensual side to their symbolic meaning. With dark red flesh oozing blood-colored juice, this association is fairly obvious. Even today, “popping your cherry” is a common colloquialism for losing one’s virginity. The distinctive "stone" inside each cherry also carries notions of new life and regeneration.

In Japan, where cherry blossoms are highly venerated, the fruit also possesses symbolic connotations. Associated with the samurai, the cherry’s red flesh represents the warrior’s blood. Crushing a cherry to reach the inner stone is a symbolic act of self-sacrifice, removing the flesh (fruit) to gain access to the soul (pit).

Christianity associates cherries with paradise, and sometimes the fruits are featured as being carried by the Christ child.