cherub
cherub a winged angelic being described in biblical tradition as attending on God, represented in ancient Middle Eastern art as a lion or a bull with eagles' wings and a human face and regarded in Christian angelology as an angel of the second highest order of the ninefold celestial hierarchy; the plural form is cherubim.
In art, the word denotes a representation of a cherub, depicted as a chubby, healthy-looking child with wings; the plural form is cherubim or cherubs.
Recorded from Old English (in form cherubin), the word comes ultimately, via Latin and Greek, from Hebrew kĕrūḇ, plural kĕrūḇīm. A rabbinic folk etymology, which explains the Hebrew singular form as representing Aramaic kĕ-raḇyā ‘like a child’, led to the representation of the cherub as a child.
In art, the word denotes a representation of a cherub, depicted as a chubby, healthy-looking child with wings; the plural form is cherubim or cherubs.
Recorded from Old English (in form cherubin), the word comes ultimately, via Latin and Greek, from Hebrew kĕrūḇ, plural kĕrūḇīm. A rabbinic folk etymology, which explains the Hebrew singular form as representing Aramaic kĕ-raḇyā ‘like a child’, led to the representation of the cherub as a child.
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cherub