Kenneth G. Wilson (1923–). The Columbia Guide to Standard American English. 1993.
cherub, cherubim, cherubs (n.)
For most Americans, the singular cherub calls to mind an infant of endearingly plump appeal or the winged representation of one as a lower-order or decorative angel, particularly as developed in Italian art. But the plurals may be semantically distinctive: cherubs calls to mind the babies and the angelic little Italian figures, but cherubim, the Hebrew plural, may also or instead evoke a taller, sterner order of angelic figures. All are Standard uses, although the figurative sense of cherubs as applied to infants is by far the most widely used, perhaps because of its hyperbole. Note too that since many English speakers are unaware that cherubim is a Hebrew plural, the English plural cherubims is also Standard today. See FOREIGN PLURALS.
