cherub
/ˈt͡ʃɛ.ɹəb/
"cherub" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“cherub” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #47,531 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #47,531
- frequency rank, English
- 6
- letters
- 9
- tracked misspellings
- 8
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - 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 fo...
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | cherub |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈt͡ʃɛ.ɹəb/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #47,531 |
| Misspellings tracked | 9 |
| Confusable pairs | 8 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “cherub” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for cherub is 6 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈt͡ʃɛ.ɹəb/. Corpus data places it at rank #47,531 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 4 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for cherub, with forms such as "ccherub", "cehrub", and "cherbu". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 8 confusable-pair relationships, "chub", "chorus", "Cheryl", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: 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,… The correct English form is cherub, spelled C-H-E-R-U-B.
Definition
- 1A 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.
- 2A 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.
- 3In later texts changed to a winged baby; in artistic depictions sometimes a baby's head with wings but no body.
- 4A person, especially a child, seen as being particularly angelic or innocent.
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.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ccherub,cehrub,cherbu,cherrub,cherubb,cheurb,chherub,chreub,hcerub
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of cherub - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "cherub"?
What does "cherub" mean?
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Using “cherub”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is C-H-E-R-U-B - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈt͡ʃɛ.ɹəb/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “chub” - see the side-by-side comparison. cherub vs chub
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.