Speakur

Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

cherub

/ˈt͡ʃɛ.ɹəb/

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: 2.59 in modern English

Syllables
che-rub
IPA
/ˈt͡ʃɛ.ɹəb/
13
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
2
Syllables
6
Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

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.

noun

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.

noun

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

noun

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

Example Sentences

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.

Origin

Word Breakdown

  • Root: cherub, cerubin, cherūbīm, χερουβῑ́μ, כְּרוּבִים

Regional Pronunciation

  • American English: /ˈt͡ʃɛ.ɹəb/
  • British English: /ˈt͡ʃɛ.ɹəb/

Inflected Forms

cherubs (plural) cherubim (plural) cherubims (plural) cherubin (obsolete, plural)

Derived Forms

cherubic cherubical cherubically cherubism cherubless cherublike

Frequently Paired Words

cherubimic cherubimical

Synonyms

amoretto cupid putto angel innocent

Rhymes With

carob

Questions

How do you pronounce cherub?
The recorded pronunciation is /ˈt͡ʃɛ.ɹəb/.
What does cherub mean?
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.
Where does cherub come from?
It is traced to Middle English.

How to pronounce cherub

  1. Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “cherub”.
  2. Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/ˈt͡ʃɛ.ɹəb/) so you know which sounds to aim for.
  3. Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “cherub”.
  4. Repeat and practice — Say “cherub” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.