cherub

James Tissot, Adam and Eve Driven from Paradise (c. 1896–1902);[n 1] the painting depicts cherubim (sense 1) preventing Adam and Eve from returning to the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3:24)

A cherub (sense 3) decorating a lavabo or washbasin in the Misericórdia Church in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil

A detail depicting cherubs (sense 3) or putti from Pieter de Grebber’s Aanbidding der herders (Adoration of the Shepherds, 1633)[n 2]

From Middle English cherub, cherube, cherubin, cherubine, cherubym, cherubyn, cherybin, gerubin, jerubin (“angel of the second highest order; depiction of such an angel”),[1] from Old English cerubin, cerubim, ceruphin, cherubin, from Latin cherūbīn, cherūbīm, from Ancient Greek χερουβίν (kheroubín), χερουβείν (kheroubeín), χερουβίμ (kheroubím), from Hebrew כְּרוּבִים (k'ruvím);[2] further etymology uncertain.

The English and Middle English word cherub(e) is derived from Latin cherub (“cherub”) (the singular form of cherūbīm, cherūbīn), from Ancient Greek χερούβ (kheroúb), ultimately from Hebrew כְּרוּב (kerúv). Because it was not always clear from Bible passages whether a single being or group of beings was being referred to, cherubin was used both as a singular word (plural cherubins) and plural word up to the 18th century. However, in Bible translations particularly from the 16th century onward cherub began to be favoured as the singular form, and from the 17th century cherubim as the plural form (influenced by Hebrew כְּרוּבִים (k'ruvím)).[2]

The English word is cognate with French chérubin, Italian cherubino, Old Spanish cherubin (modern Spanish querubín), Galician querubín, Portuguese querubim.[2]

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) enPR: chĕrʹəb, IPA^(key): /ˈt͡ʃɛ.ɹəb/

• Audio (RP)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛɹəb
• Hyphenation: che‧rub

cherub (plural cherubs or cherubim or cherubims)

1. (biblical) A winged creature attending God and guarding his throne; similar to a lamassu (winged bull with a human torso) in the pre-exilic texts of the Hebrew Bible, more humanoid in later texts.
2. (post-biblical) A winged angel, described by Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite (c. 5th–6th century) as the second highest order of angels, ranked above thrones and below seraphim.
   • 1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, The Pistle off Paul unto the Hebrues ix:[5], folio cccviii, recto:

     Over the arcke were the cherubyns off glory shadowynge the seate of grace.

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Genesis 3:24:

     So he [God] droue out the man [Adam]: and he placed at the East of the garden of Eden, Cherubims, and a flaming ſword, which turned euery way, to keepe the way of the tree of life.

   • 1667, John Milton, “Book VII”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 197–199:

     About his Chariot numberleſs were pour'd / Cherub and Seraph, Potentates and Thrones, / And Vertues, winged Spirits, and Chariots wing'd, […]

   • 1700, [John] Dryden, “To Her Grace the Dutchess of Ormond, with the Following Poem of Palamon and Arcite, from Chaucer”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:

     O Daughter of the Roſe, […] / Whoſe Face is Paradiſe, but fenc'd from Sin: / For God in either Eye has plac'd a Cherubin.

   • 1846, Emanuel Swedenborg, “[Exodus.] Chapter XXV.”, in Heavenly Arcana, which are in the Sacred Scripture or Word of the Lord, Laid Open. […] Exodus. […], volume XI, Boston, Mass.: Published for the proprietors [New Church Printing Society], by Otis Clapp, […], →OCLC, note 9506, page 345:

     [B]y cherubs is signified guard and providence lest the Lord should be come at except by the good of love, thus to prevent any entering into heaven except they who are in good, also to prevent those who are in heaven, from being approached and hurt by those who are in hell. From these things it may be manifest what was signified by the propitiatory being over the ark, and by the cherubs being over the propitiatory and by the propitiatory and the cherubs being of pure gold; for gold signifies the good of love, and the ark heaven where the Lord is. [Interpreting Exodus 25:17–22 of the Bible.]

   • 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “The Whiteness of the Whale”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, page 210:

     But I doubt not, that leathern tally, meant for man, was taken off in Heaven, when the white fowl flew to join the wing-folding, the invoking, and adoring cherubim!

   • 1872 January, [Christina Rossetti], “A Christmas Carol [In the Bleak Midwinter]”, in J[osiah] G[ilbert] Holland, editor, Scribner’s Monthly, an Illustrated Magazine for the People, volume III, number 3, New York, N.Y.: Scribner & Co., […], →OCLC, stanza IV, page 278:

     Angels and Archangels / May have gathered there, / Cherubim and Seraphim / Thronged the air; / But only His Mother / In her maiden bliss / Worshiped the Beloved / With a kiss.

3. In later texts changed to a winged baby; in artistic depictions sometimes a baby's head with wings but no body.

   Synonyms: amoretto, cupid, putto

   • 1611, Robert Abbot, “Of Images”, in The Second Part of the Defence of the Reformed Catholicke. […], London: Impensis Thomæ Adams, →OCLC, page 1164:

     For ſome colour of ſetting vp their idols in Churches to bee worſhiped, they full ſimply alledge the Cherubins that were ſet vp in the temple which Solomon built, which M. [William] Bishop ſaith were the images of Angels, and that they did repreſent the Angels wee will not deny, but of what ſhape they were, no man ſaith Joſephus, can cõiecture or affirme any thing.

   • 1831 October 31, Mary W[ollstonecraft] Shelley, chapter I, in Frankenstein: Or, The Modern Prometheus (Standard Novels; IX), 3rd edition, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, page 22:

     When my father returned from Milan, he found playing with me in the hall of our villa a child fairer than pictured cherub – a creature who seemed to shed radiance from her looks and whose form and motions were lighter than the chamois of the hills.

   • 1995, Catherine Gonzalez, Cherub in Stone (Chaparral Book for Young Readers), Fort Worth, Tex.: Texas Christian University Press, →ISBN, page 9:

     Finally I must have drifted off, because I dreamt we were in a terrible frightening place – there was a giant, standing on a hill, looking down at us. But then a cherub came to rescue me – it must have been that cherub in stone that Papa promised to carve for me. I remember feeling safe then, and after that I slept soundly all night.

   • 2010, Pseudonymous Bosch [pseudonym; Raphael Simon], “The Royal Kennels”, in This Isn’t What It Looks Like (The Secret Series; 4), New York, N.Y.: Little, Brown and Company, →ISBN; republished London: Usborne, 2014, →ISBN:

     The kennels occupied a long brick building designed to resemble the palace in miniature. Inside, the walls were painted with murals of dogs frolicking in the woods and giving chase to a frightened fox while chubby canine cherubim smiled down at them.

4. (figuratively) A person, especially a child, seen as being particularly angelic or innocent.

   Synonyms: angel, innocent

   • c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Tragœdy of Othello, the Moore of Venice. […] (First Quarto), London: […] N[icholas] O[kes] for Thomas Walkley, […], published 1622, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene ii], page 71:

     Patience, thou young and rose-lipp'd Cherubin.

   • c. 1605–1608, William Shakespeare, “The Life of Tymon of Athens”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iii], page 91, column 1:

     This fell whore of thine, / Hath in her more deſtruction then thy Sword, / For all her Cherubin looke.

   • 2018 December 12, Charles Bramesco, “A Spoonful of Nostalgia Helps the Calculated Mary Poppins Returns Go Down”, in The A.V. Club‎, archived from the original on 24 May 2019:

     [T]he zippy musical numbers in which Mary Poppins (a stiff-lipped Emily Blunt) whisks cherubs Annabel, John, and Georgie (Pixie Davies, Nathanael Saleh, and Joel Dawson, respectively) away into colorful hyperreal fantasias impress.

• cherub on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

• Bucher

More recent than cherubijn. Borrowed from Latin cherub, from Ancient Greek χερούβ (kheroúb), ultimately from Biblical Hebrew כְּרוּב (k'rúv).

• IPA^(key): /ˈxeː.rʏp/

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: che‧rub

cherub m (plural cherubs, diminutive cherubje n)

1. cherub
   1. (biblical, historical) lamassu-like angel
   2. (biblical, religion) six-winged humanoid angel
   3. (art) putto

From Ancient Greek χερούβ (kheroúb), ultimately from Biblical Hebrew כְּרוּב (Kerúv).

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈkʰe.ruːb/, [ˈkʰɛruːb]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈke.rub/, [ˈkɛːrub]

cherūb m (indeclinable)

1. (indeclinable, Christianity) cherub
   • Late 4th century, Jerome [et al.], transl., edited by Roger Gryson, Biblia Sacra: Iuxta Vulgatam Versionem (Vulgate), 5th edition, Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, published 2007, →ISBN, Exodus 25:18:
     &
     Late 4th century, Jerome [et al.], transl., edited by Roger Gryson, Biblia Sacra: Iuxta Vulgatam Versionem (Vulgate), 5th edition, Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, published 2007, →ISBN, Exodus 25:19:

     duos quoque cherubin aureos et productiles facies ex utraque parte oraculi

     cherub unus sit in latere uno et alter in altero

   • (Can we date this quote?) Nova Vulgata, Exodus 25:18&19

     Duos quoque cherubim aureos et productiles facies ex utraque parte propitiatorii,
     cherub unus sit in latere uno et alter in altero

     And thou shalt make two cherubims of gold, of beaten work shalt thou make them, in the two ends of the mercy seat.
     And make one cherub on the one end, and the other cherub on the other end

   • Late 4th century, Jerome [et al.], transl., edited by Roger Gryson, Biblia Sacra: Iuxta Vulgatam Versionem (Vulgate), 5th edition, Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, published 2007, →ISBN, 9:3:

     et gloria Domini Israhel adsumpta est de cherub quae erat super eum ad limen domus et vocavit virum qui indutus erat lineis et atramentarium scriptoris habebat in lumbis suis

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • Nova Vulgata, Ezechiel 9:3

     Et gloria Dei Israel elevata est de cherub, super quem erat, ad limen domus; et vocavit virum, qui indutus erat lineis et atramentarium scriptoris habebat in lumbis suis.

Irregular noun with distinct plural

Many of the following are technically from the plural cherubin reinterpreted as a singular.

• → Catalan: querubí
• → Dutch: cherub
• → German: Cherub
• → English: cherub
• → French: chérubin
• → Galician: querubín
• → Italian: cherubino
• → Polish: cherub
• → Portuguese: querubim
• → Spanish: querubín

• “cherub”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• cherub in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.

Borrowed from Late Latin cherūb, from Ancient Greek χερούβ (kheroúb), from Hebrew כְּרוּב (kerúv).

• IPA^(key): /ˈxɛ.rup/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛrup
• Syllabification: che‧rub

cherub m pers

1. Alternative form of cherubin

cherub m animal

1. (figuratively, literary) Alternative form of cherubin

   Synonym: efeb

• cherub in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• cherub in Polish dictionaries at PWN