Applied to an ordinary, or other charge, that occupies a lower position than usual in the shield.

Term for certain armorial symbols or charges that were marks of dishonor in some countries.

Placed side by side.

A complete display of armorial bearings, including the shield with arms, the crest displayed on the helm, the supporters that flank and hold the shield, the mantling, and the motto, if any.

Two animals, birds, etc., back to back.

Describes charges, generally animals, shown with head and body facing the spectator.

Aile/Aislé

Winged.

A young eagle displayed without beak or legs.

Having figures in the angles.

A ring or circle with an open center; as a mark of cadency, it indicates a fifth son.

The heraldic color silver.

Describes claws, horns, talons, etc.

A person entitled to bear heraldic arms.

A heraldic achievement.

Applies to the shield and its charges.

Used instead of armed for horns of a deer.

The heraldic term for the color blue.

The color must be specified, and they are shaded in contrast to bezants and plates, which are flat and sometimes figured.

Encircled with a band, applied to sheaves of arrows, and to garbs when tied of another color.

One of the ordinaries: a horizontal band narrower than a fess; usually used when two or three are charged on a field.

A diagonal bar running from the top right to the lower left; the mark of bastardy.

Describes leaves between petals or of the head of an arrow or spear.

A fish noted for the whisker-like sense organs around its mouth. Bar in French.

A barry field of ten or more divisions.

Covered with equally spaced horizontal bars.

Divided into lozenge-shaped pieces by horizontal and diagonal lines intersecting.

Horizontally.

The bottom third of a shield.

Mythical monster resembling a wyvern with a dragon’s head at the end of its tail.

A coupled bendlet.

Describes a bird whose beak has a different tincture from its body.

One of the ordinaries: a broad diagonal band from the dexter chief to the sinister base of the shield.

A broad band descending from the sinister chief to the dexter base, dividing the shield into two equal parts.

A narrow band (see bend).

Covered with equally spaced bends.

Describes the main charge of a shield when secondary ones appear on either side.

A gold plate or a flat piece of gold without impression.

Semy of bezants.

A small rectangular figure placed vertically.

Semy of billets.

The technical description of armorial bearings.

A narrow border around the edge of a shield.

Applied to crosses, crosslets, etc., whose arms end in a trefoil shape.

Embattled counterembattled when the inward and outward embattlements lie opposite each other.

Stylized charge in the form of a buckle.

The head of an animal or bird, without neck, facing the viewer.

A term applied to a horse salient.

A means of distinguishing among brothers or among descendants of various brothers. The most often encountered are the label, crescent, mullet, martlet, and annulet.

Armorial devices or compositions that allude in a punning way to the bearer’s arms (e.g., a lion for Leon).

A small square, usually in the dexter chief (to the viewer, the upper-left corner).

An oval shield.

See tierced.

See tierced in mantle.

Any design placed or superimposed on the field of a coat of arms.

Applied to a field, ordinary, or other bearing, upon which a charge is placed.

A pattern of squares in alternating colors, like a checkerboard.

One of the ordinaries: a broad inverted “V” across the shield.

Describes a shield and its charges divided into an even number of equal chevrons of alternate tinctures.

The upper third of the field of a shield.

A five-petaled leaf or flower.

See basilisk.

Generic term that refers only to gules, sable, azure, vert, and purpure (that is, not metals or furs).

Fighting; said of two lions or other beasts rampant face to face.

The representation of the ground or other surface upon which the supporters, shield, and motto stand.

Describes ordinaries divided into equal square or rectangular compartments of alternate tinctures.

Joined together.

Describes an animal whose body and head face to the sinister.

A support for a crest that is shaped like a crown.

A narrow band on each side of a charge such as a bar or bend.

Of an animal (usually a lion or dog): lying on its stomach, forelegs stretched out, hind legs curled beneath, and head erect.

A reversal of the tinctures.

Two adjacent rows, checkerboard pattern.

Cut off with a straight edge (as of a head).

Running.

Hooks used in building, usually borne singly but in pairs in British armory.

A crown of rue or arched wreath placed in bend seen especially in the arms of Saxony.

See embattled.

A half-moon pointing upward; as a mark of cadency, the sign of a second son.

An identifying device on top of a helm.

One of the ordinaries: a composite of a pale and a fess.

A long cross placed on steps (on a blazon, the number of steps or degrees must be stated).

A cross with each of its limbs crossed.

A cross, the ends of which are fleurs-de-lis.

A cross with limbs splayed at the ends.

A splayed cross with straight ends.

Describes crutch-shaped limbs.

A cross that has no upper limb with others slightly splayed.

See crancelin.

Describes animals wearing a crown.

Spattered with cross-crosslets.

Continuous line of broad zigzags.

The term employed when a bend, fess, or other ordinary is placed across an animal or other charge, which is then said to be debruised by the ordinary.

The right side. When applied to a shield, it refers to the portion that would be to the right for a person carrying it. It is therefore that portion to the viewer’s left.

A pattern or design that covers otherwise plain areas of the field or charges.

Covered with fret-work or floral enrichment of a color differing from the rest of the bearing.

Describes various methods of altering a coat of arms to distinguish it from similar arms.

Method of impalement in which the dexter half of one coat of arms is joined to the sinister half of the other.

Birds of prey placed affronté with expanded wings and extended legs.

Having two heads, often describing the eagle.

Having battlements like the wall of a fortress; the pieces projecting upward are called merlons, the intervening spaces embrasures (also termed crenellated).

With an indented edge looking like battlements.

Describes charges with curved or bent edges.

Displayed over the rays of a sun.

Encircled or environed.

A line of semi-circles pointing outward.

A square flag.

Fully armed and caparisoned; rigged.

Torn up by the roots; applied to trees and plants.

Cut off raggedly; the jagged ends of a neck, usually of an animal or bird.

In a vertical or upright position.

One of the heraldic furs: white, powdered with black ermine tails.

Seashell of a scallop pattern.

The term applied to a bearing that originated in the iron bands radiating from the center of an ancient shield and serving to strengthen it.

A small shield.

A five-pointed star with wavy edges.

One of the ordinaries: a broad horizontal band across the middle of the field.

The point in the center of the shield.

The basic surface of the shield on which charges are placed. When blazoning, the field is always stated first.

A term applied to the sun, crescents, coins, etc., when they contain a human face; and to bezants or plates stamped like a coin.

Having a narrow border.

Pointed end to the lower limb of a cross.

The cadency mark of a sixth son.

Spattered with fleurs-de-lis.

Fleurs-de-lis at the limb ends of a cross.

Having leaves.

See paty.

A mascle interlaced by a bendlet dexter and a bendlet sinister (i.e., a voided diamond with diagonal bands running through it).

A field covered by interlaced bendlets and bendlets sinister.

Equipped or provided with sails, ropes, etc.

Tinctures representing in a conventional and stylized manner the pelts with which combatants sometimes covered their shields in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. The two main furs are vair and ermine.

An elongated lozenge; a pattern of horizontal fusils is fusilly.

See fusil.

A wheat sheaf.

Full-faced.

Ornamented.

A purple roundel.

Wearing a collar.

A collar, chain, etc., round the neck of an animal or bird.

A mythical monster: eagle in front, lion behind. The female griffin has wings; the male has none.

Looking toward the viewer.

The heraldic color red.

A triangular sector of the shield formed by half a bend line and half a fess line meeting in the middle of the field.

The field is divided into eight segments by lines in pale, fess, bend, and bend sinister.

Clothed, vested.

The position of a fish in vertical position, head upward.

A traditional part of a heraldic achievement.

The upper middle part of a shield.

Having the hooves of a particular tincture (distinguish from unguled, which applies only to beasts with cloven feet.)

Coats conjoined paleways, that is, by dividing the shield into two parts by a perpendicular line and placing one coat on each side thereof. On a shield, the husband’s arms are displayed to the viewer’s left, the wife’s to the right.

Diagonally.

Horizontally, across the center of the field.

Following along the inside edge of a shield.

Centrally, one above the other.

Continuous line of narrow zigzags.

A shield placed as a charge on another shield.

A line of semi-circles pointing inward.

Issuing or emerging from.

A trefoil with extended, curved stem applied to the wings of an eagle, especially in German heraldry.

Horizontal band at the top across other charges, usually with three pendant ribbons. It has been used as a mark of difference. As a cadency mark, it is the sign of an eldest son.

See mantling.

Describes the tongue of an animal or bird when it is of a different tincture from the rest of a beast or bird, or from that usually employed.

Applied when the legs of a bird differ in tincture from the rest of the body.

Generic term for geometrical shapes formed by lines of partition (vertical, horizontal, or diagonal) that divide the shield into an even number of equal parts of alternate tinctures.

A diamond-shaped figure.

A field covered with or divided into lozenges.

A pike fish.

Originally a cloth cap worn from the back of the helmet to protect the metal from the sun. It is shown on an achievement as drapery hanging from the helm, falling away on either side of the shield of arms.

Combining more than one coat of arms.

A mythical bird without legs, like a martin or swallow. As a mark of cadency, it signifies a fourth son.

A lozenge with an open or voided center.

A lady’s sleeve with a long pendant lappet or cuff.

A mermaid.

Describes a bird’s legs.

The iron centerpiece of a millstone; a stylized charge formed of two “C”-shaped hooks.

A five-pointed star with straight rays. If the star has more than five rays, the fact must be specified. When it represents the rowel of a spur, its center is pierced. As a mark of cadency, it signifies a third son.

Applied to a stylized charge in a crest depicting a mound or hill, especially one in the base of a shield.

Describes a fish swimming fessways or horizontally.

Describes a charge that issues from the middle of a fess or other ordinary.

Curved or wavy lines.

A halo.

A double quatrefoil. A cadency mark for the ninth son.

A black roundel.

The heraldic color gold.

The ten simplest and oldest charges (e.g., chief, fess, pale, bend, chevron, pile, cross, saltire, pall, bar).

A bordure inside the shield that does not reach the edges.

Describes a charge superimposed on other charges.

One of the ordinaries; a perpendicular band down the middle of the field.

One of the ordinaries; a “T”-shaped figure.

A diminutive of the pale; applied when more than one pale appears on a field.

Describes a shield, ordinaries, lines of partition, and any charges divided vertically into an even number of equal parts of alternate tinctures.

Formerly used with per to denote a field or charge that is divided by a line drawn in the direction of the ordinary named: per bend, fess, pale, etc. See per.

Describes an animal in walking position, with three paws on the ground, right forepaw raised, head forward, and tail curved over the back.

Denotes a beast that is walking forward with its head affronté, i.e., facing the viewer.

Splayed cross with straight limb ends (also formy).

A black roundel.

The phrases used to indicate that the field or charge is divided by a line drawn in the direction of the ordinary named.

The field is divided diagonally from top left to bottom right (as seen by the viewer).

The field is divided by a chevron.

The field is divided horizontally across the center.

The shield is divided vertically up the middle.

The shield is divided "X"-wise.

An arrowhead with its inner edges engrailed.

A charge with a round hole in the center.

One of the ordinaries consisting of a triangular wedge emerging from the chief or, when reversed, the base.

A silver roundel.

The base of a shield.

A green roundel.

Crutch-shaped; a variety of the armorial fur vair. See cross potent.

See semé/semée/semy/powdered.

In natural appearance and color.

The heraldic color purple.

Divided into quarters or quarterings.

Different coats, not necessarily four in number, combined in one escutcheon to denote descent and/or territorial rule.

A four-petaled leaf or flower.

Having a double tail often intertwined.

Having a forked and crossed tail.

Shining with rays.

A line in the pattern.

Describes an erect animal, with one paw on the ground, three paws raised, head forward, and tail erect.

The rampant position but with the head toward the viewer.

The rampant position but with the head looking back over the shoulders.

Adorned with beams of light.

Of the sun, sixteen in number.

A device that is a pictorial pun on the name of the bearer.

An empty red field in a compound field of arms, usually at the base. It indicates certain powers to which the bearer of the arms, usually a head of state, is entitled.

A circular disc. Roundels have been given different names: bezant, a gold roundel; plate, silver; torteau, red; pomey, green; pellet, black; and golpe, purple.

The heraldic color black.

Describes the position of an animal with both hind paws on the ground, ready to leap.

One of the ordinaries; two crossed diagonal arms, like the letter “X.”

See escallop.

Describes seed vessels of a flower. Also applied to a pomegranate.

Applied to a wyvern or griffin when represented rampant with endorsed or expanded wings.

Sitting.

Spattered or strewn with an unspecified number of charges.

The left side. When applied to a shield, it refers to the portion that would be to the left for a person carrying it. Thus, it is that portion to the viewer’s right.

A flower-like charge with six petals.

Having a slip or stalk torn off from the stem; applied to leaves and flowers.

See supporters.

A term applied to the sun irradiated and having a human face.

Describes an animal standing, all feet on the ground.

Said of a musical instrument with cords or strings; also of the cord or belt of a bugle or post horn.

Heraldic charges also of frequent use, but not so important as the primary ordinaries. The distinction is arbitrary.

Usually shown with long, wedge-shaped rays that are alternately straight and wavy, and with a human face. It is typically blazoned a sun in his splendor.

Describes the figures around a shield and appearing to support it. In French heraldry, some theorists distinguish among human supporters (tenants), beasts (supports), and inanimate objects or plants (soutiens).

See supporters.

A hunting dog with hanging ears.

A cross in the shape of a “T.”

See supporters.

Divided into three approximately equal areas in the form of a “Y”; applied to the field.

The same as tierced but with the “Y” inverted and the lines arched.

Refers to colors, metals, and fur in a blazon.

A red roundel.

A three-petaled, flowerlike figure.

A small single orle ornamented with fleurs-de-lis, all the heads of which point outward, and the stalks inward.

Describes a stag passant.

A barrel, frequently used in canting or punning arms.

Wavy.

Having hooves; applied to stags, unicorns, bulls, etc., whose cloven feet are of a different tincture from the rest of the body.

One of the heraldic furs, meant to depict a squirrel skin or several squirrel skins stitched together. Conventionally shown by a bell-shaped pattern with alternating pieces of blue and white.

The heraldic color green.

Clothed.

See banded.

Flying.

Water bags/Water bougets

As a charge, a stylized version of two leather water bags supported by a yoke.

Undulating.

A cord of six twists alternating in color between that of the helm and that of the crest.

Similar to a dragon but without rear legs, its hind quarters being those of a serpent and ending in a barbed tail.