cherub
pronunciation
How to pronounce cherub in British English:
UK [ˈtʃerəb]
How to pronounce cherub in American English:
US [ˈtʃɛrəb]
-
- Noun:
- a sweet innocent baby
- an angel of the second order whose gift is knowledge; usually portrayed as a winged child
Word Origin
- cherub
- cherub: [OE] Cherub is of Akkadian origin (Akkad was the northern region of ancient Babylonia). Akkadian karūbu meant ‘gracious’. This was borrowed into Hebrew as kerūbh (plural kerūbhīm), which was used in the Old Testament to signify a certain class of winged divine being. It passed into English via Greek kheroúb and Latin cherūb.
- cherub (n.)
- late 14c. as an order of angels, from Late Latin cherub, from Greek cheroub, from Hebrew kerubh (plural kerubhim) "winged angel," perhaps related to Akkadian karubu "to bless," karibu "one who blesses," an epithet of the bull-colossus. Old English had cerubin, from the Greek plural. The cherubim, a common feature of ancient Near Eastern mythology, are not to be confused with the round-cheeked darlings of Renaissance iconography. The root of the terms either means "hybrid" or, by an inversion of consonants, "mount," "steed," and they are winged beasts, probably of awesome aspect, on which the sky god of the old Canaanite myths and of the poetry of Psalms goes riding through the air. [Robert Alter, "The Five Books of Moses," 2004, commentary on Gen. iii:24]
Example
- 1. The arrow-slinging cherub is definitely a hit in mexico .
- 2. Pieter bruegel the elder , however , wasn 't having that cherub painting bullshit . This joker painted hardcore peasant life .
- 3. The cherub in the painting is very lovely .
- 4. Ancient rome was as likely to turn up in a painting of queen elizabeth as an american indian cherub ( with ostrich ) in an engraving of london .
- 5. My brother had such a sweet , innocent face when he was young that my mother called him her cherub .