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cherub

noun
/ˈt͡ʃɛ.ɹəb/US

Etymology

From Middle English cherub, cherube, cherubin, cherubine, cherubym, cherubyn, cherybin, gerubin, jerubin (“angel of the second highest order; depiction of such an angel”), from Old English cerubin, cerubim, ceruphin, cherubin, from Latin cherūbīm, cherūbīn, from Ancient Greek χερουβῑ́μ (kheroubī́m), χερουβείν (kheroubeín), χερουβίμ (kheroubím), from Hebrew כְּרוּבִים (k'ruvím);. 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)). The English word is cognate with French chérubin, Italian cherubino, Old Spanish cherubin (modern Spanish querubín), Galician querubín, Portuguese querubim.

  1. derived from כְּרוּבִים
  2. derived from χερουβῑ́μ
  3. derived from cherūbīm
  4. inherited from cerubin
  5. inherited from cherub

Definitions

  1. A winged creature attending God and guarding his throne described as a being with four…

    A winged creature attending God and guarding his throne described as a being with four faces (man, lion, ox, and eagle), human hands, calf hooves, four wings, and many eyes. A description can be found in Ezekiel chapter 1 and Ezekiel chapter 10; 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. A winged angel, described by Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite (c. 5th–6th century) as the…

    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.

    • Over the arcke were the cherubyns off glory shadowynge the seate of grace.
    • 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.
    • About his Chariot numberleſs were pour'd / Cherub and Seraph, Potentates and Thrones, / And Vertues, winged Spirits, and Chariots wing'd, […]

  3. In later texts changed to a winged baby

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

  4. ›+ 1 more definition

    1. A person, especially a child, seen as being particularly angelic or innocent.

      • Patience, thou young and rose-lipp'd Cherubin.
      • This fell whore of thine, / Hath in her more deſtruction then thy Sword, / For all her Cherubin looke.
      • [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.

The neighborhood

Derived

cherubic, cherubical, cherubically, cherubism, cherubless, cherublike

Vish — recursive loop

A definitional loop anchored at cherub. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.

01cherub02seraphim03saraph04seraph05cherubim

A definitional loop anchored at cherub. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.

5 hops · closes at cherub

curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA