cherub

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 cherūbīn, cherūbīm, from Ancient Greek χερουβίν (kheroubín), χερουβείν (kheroubeín), χερουβίμ (kheroubím), from Hebrew כְּרוּבִים (k'ruvím); 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)). The English word is cognate with French chérubin, Italian cherubino, Old Spanish cherubin (modern Spanish querubín), Galician querubín, Portuguese querubim.

noun

1. (biblical) A winged creature attending God, described by Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite (c. 5th–6th century) as the second highest order of angels, ranked above thrones and below seraphim; similar to a lamassu in the pre-exilic texts of the Hebrew Bible, more humanoid in later texts.
   [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.] 1846, Emanuel Swedenborg, “[[Unsupported titles/`lsqb`Exodus|[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
   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. 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
2. An artistic depiction of such a being, typically in the form of a winged child or a child's head with wings but no body.
   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. 1611, Robert Abbot, “Of Images”, in The Second Part of the Defence of the Reformed Catholicke.[…], London: Impensis Thomæ Adams, →OCLC, page 1164
   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. 1995, Catherine Gonzalez, Cherub in Stone (Chaparral Book for Young Readers), Fort Worth, Tex.: Texas Christian University Press, page 9
   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. 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; republished London: Usborne, 2014
3. (figurative) A person, especially a child, seen as being particularly angelic or innocent.
   [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. 12 December 2018, Charles Bramesco, “A Spoonful of Nostalgia Helps the Calculated Mary Poppins Returns Go Down”, in The A.V. Club, archived from the original on 2019-05-24