seraph

Meaning

Noun

• A six-winged angel; the highest choir or order of angels in Christian angelology, ranked above cherubim, and below God. They are the 5th highest order of angels in Jewish angelology. A detailed description can be found at the beginning of

Origin

• of singular form plural seraphim, from Latin seraphim, from Hebrew שרפים, plural form of שרף. The plural "seraphims" occurs in the King James Bible (Isaiah chapter 6).
• According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the singular "seraph" may have originated with John Milton who used it in Book I of Paradise Lost (1667).