Western Heraldry Glossary

Heraldic vocabulary developed across different places and periods, so some terms and conventions vary by tradition. These definitions describe common usage in Western heraldry.

A–C

• Achievement: The complete display of armorial bearings, which may include a shield, helmet, crest, mantling, motto, and other elements. What counts as part of an achievement varies by tradition.
• Argent: The heraldic metal silver or white.
• Armiger: A person or institution entitled to bear a coat of arms.
• Arms (coat of arms): The distinctive heraldic design borne on a shield. In strict usage, arms are not the same as the full achievement displayed around the shield.
• Azure: The heraldic color blue.
• Bend: An ordinary running diagonally from the upper dexter (viewer’s upper left) to the lower sinister (viewer’s lower right) of the shield.
• Bend sinister: A diagonal ordinary running from the upper sinister to the lower dexter. It is not inherently a mark of illegitimacy; that association is a popular misconception.
• Blazon: The formal verbal description of a coat of arms, written in a specialized vocabulary and order. A blazon describes the design rather than prescribing one exact artistic rendering.
• Bordure: A border following the inner edge of the shield, usually treated as a charge.
• Charge: Any figure or emblem placed on a shield or on another heraldic object. Charges include both recognizable objects and geometric forms.
• Chief: The upper portion of a shield; also the ordinary occupying that area.
• Crest: A figure traditionally set above a helmet, often upon a wreath or crown. A crest is distinct from the arms on the shield, even though the word is often used loosely for an entire coat of arms.

D–H

• Dexter: The right side of the shield from the perspective of the person carrying it, which appears on the viewer’s left.
• Display (emblazon): The visual depiction of arms. An emblazon interprets the blazon in a particular artistic style.
• Ermine: A fur tincture shown as a pale field with black ermine spots. Related patterns include ermines, erminois, and pean, whose colors differ.
• Escutcheon: A shield, especially one used as the surface for displaying arms or as a smaller shield within a larger design.
• Fess: A horizontal ordinary across the middle of the shield; the word can also refer to the central horizontal area of the field.
• Field: The background of a shield or other heraldic surface, before charges are placed upon it.
• Fimbriation: A narrow border of a different tincture around a charge, often used to separate it from the field.
• Fur: A patterned heraldic tincture, such as ermine or vair, rather than a solid color or metal.
• Gules: The heraldic color red.
• Helm: A helmet shown above the shield in an achievement. Its form may indicate rank or tradition, but conventions differ by country and period.
• Herald: An officer historically responsible for matters such as announcing, recording, and regulating arms; the role and authority of heralds varied among jurisdictions.

I–P

• Impalement: The division of a shield vertically to display two coats of arms side by side, often to show a marriage or an office-holder’s personal and institutional arms.
• Livery colors: Colors associated with a person, family, or institution and used on clothing or other objects. They are inspired by heraldic colors but are not themselves a coat of arms.
• Mantling: Decorative cloth shown flowing from a helmet, often depicted cut or ragged in a conventional way. It is usually colored to match the principal tinctures of the arms.
• Or: The heraldic metal gold or yellow.
• Ordinary: A basic geometric charge, such as a bend, chevron, cross, fess, pale, or chief. Lists and classifications of ordinaries are not identical in every reference.
• Orle: A narrow border set inside and following the outline of a shield, leaving a margin between it and the edge.
• Pale: A vertical ordinary down the middle of a shield; the term can also mean a vertical division of the field.
• Pall: A Y-shaped ordinary, typically with arms extending toward the top corners and a stem toward the base of the shield.
• Party per pale: Divided vertically into two parts. “Party” means divided; the direction and number of parts are specified in the blazon.
• Passant: A beast depicted walking, usually with one forepaw raised and its head facing toward the viewer’s left (heraldic dexter).
• Proper: Depicted in its natural or customary colors, rather than in a specified heraldic tincture. What counts as proper can depend on the object and convention.

Q–Z

• Quartering: Dividing a shield into four or more sections to display multiple coats, commonly through inheritance or dynastic association. The rules and implications vary across heraldic jurisdictions.
• Sable: The heraldic color black.
• Sinister: The left side of the shield from the perspective of the person carrying it, which appears on the viewer’s right.
• Supporters: Figures placed on either side of a shield as if holding it. Entitlement to supporters is restricted in some traditions and more broadly used in others.
• Tincture: The general term for a heraldic color, metal, or fur. The principal metals are or and argent; common colors include gules, azure, sable, vert, and purpure.
• Torse (wreath): A twisted band of fabric shown above a helmet, typically in two of the principal tinctures, on which the crest is placed.
• Vert: The heraldic color green.
• Vair: A fur tincture represented by alternating bell- or shield-shaped patches, conventionally blue and white. Variations in color and arrangement have their own names.
• Rule of tincture: A common design guideline that places metals (or and argent) on colors, and colors on metals, to maintain contrast. It is not a universal law without exceptions, and furs and complex designs require nuance.
• Wreath: See torse; the twisted band above the helmet that traditionally supports the crest.