Heraldic Terms A-C
A guide to words and terms used in Heraldry
| A to C | D to J | K to Q | R to Z |
| Term | Meaning |
| Abbess | The senior member of a female religious house. |
| Abbey | A building housing a society of monkks or nuns. |
| Abbot | The senior member of a male religious house. |
| Achievement of Arms | The complete assemblage of Heraldic accessories assigned to an individual, corpotation or state. |
| Acorned | Of the acorns of an oak, in separate specified colour. |
| Addorsed | Of beasts or charges, back to back. |
| Affronty | Of a charge, facing the observer. |
| Angles | Of a line of partition, set at an angle. |
| Annulet | A ring. |
| Antelope, Heraldic | A monster with the body of an antelope, two horns, a manr and long tail. |
| Apalmy | Of a hand or gauntlet, open to show the palm. |
| Arch (Archy) | Of a line of partition, in the form of an arch. |
| Argent | The colour silver or white, a tincture and a metal |
| Armed | Of a human being or limb, clothed in armour; the claws, beak, horns or tusks of a creature, in a separate, specified colour. |
| Armet | A totally enclosed, close-fitting, helmet with opening front. |
| Armiger | Aperson entitled to bear arms. |
| Armorial | A book listing armorial bearings alphabetically by the names of the bearers |
| Armorial bearings | The symbols born by an armiger his coat armour, shield and banner to distinguish him from others. |
| Artistic supporter | Supporter with no Heraldic significance, added for effect. |
| Attired | With antlers. |
| Attributed arms | Armorial bearings given to people who existed before Heraldry and to celestial and legendary figures. |
| Augmentation | An additional charge or device awarded to an armiger as a reward for merit in some field or to commemorate a specific event. |
| Azure | The colour blue, a tincture. |
| Badge | An Heraldic device belonging to an armiger, worn by his retainers and sympathizers |
| Banner | A square of rectangular flag upon which armorial bearings are displayed. |
| Bar | A narrow strip on the shield in a horizontal plane (barry, with several such strips) |
| Bar gemel | Horizontal bars, arranged in pairs. |
| Barbed | With roses this refers to the leaves enclosing the bud which appear between the petals of an open rose, and if blazoned proper Vert is shown. Alternatively, the point of a sharp weapon. |
| Barry | Said of a field or charge divided horizontally into an even number of stripes. |
| Base | The lower portion of the shield. |
| Basilisk | A Heraldic monster, a reptile said to be hatched by a serpent from a cock's egg. |
| Bath, Knights of the | Active order of knights in Great Britain, in civil and military divisions. |
| Battled (Embattled) | Of a line of partition, having a crenellated edge like a battlement. |
| Baton | A narrow, diagonal band not reaching the edge of the shield, in England sometimes in the form of the baton sinister, a mark of illegitimacy. |
| Beaked | Of a bird, in a separate specified colour. |
| Belled | With bells, attached to a hawk's leg for hawking, in a separate specified colour |
| Bend | A diagonal strip on the shield from sinister to dexter top, an ordinary 'per bend', divided in the same place. 'in bend', charges placed in this plane. |
| Bend sinister | A diagonal strip on the shield from dexter to sinister top. |
| Bendlet | A narrow bend. |
| Bendwise | Of charges when shown at the same angle as a bend. |
| Bendy | Covered with an even number of bends. |
| Bevelled | Of a line of partition, broken so as to have two equally acute, alternate angles. |
| Bezant (Byzant) | A gold roundle representing a coin. |
| Bezanty | Covered with gold coins. |
| Bicorporate | Two bodies joined to one head. |
| Billet | A rectangular shape, placed on end, rep[resenting a block of wood, usually used in large numbers to cover a field. |
| Billety | Covered with billets. |
| Blazon | The written description of armorial bearings; 'to blazon' is to describe armorial bearings in words. |
| Bleu celeste | The colour sky blue, a tincture. |
| Bonicon | A mythical beast. |
| Bordure | A narrow band around the edge of the shield. |
| Botony | With ends like a clover leaf. |
| Bouget | Two water carriers hanging from a yoke. |
| Caboshed | Of a head, front-facing and cut off behind the ears. |
| Cadence | The difference between the main bearer of arms in a family and cadet, or junior branches; a system of small additions and alterations to the shield to show this. |
| Caltrap (Caltrop) | A spiked device strewn on the ground to maim horses, used as a charge. |
| Calvary cross | One of the forms of the cross, shown on three steps. |
| Cameleopard | A giraffe. |
| Canting | Armorial bearings that in their concept and design include some reference or allusion to the name of the bearer. |
| Canton | A square section, smaller than a quartering in the top dexter or sinister corner of the shield; a sub-ordinary. |
| Centaur | A monster, half man and half horse. |
| Celestial crown | An Heraldic crown. |
| Chain | Separate links appearing as charges; sometimes a chain of office or of an order; when it is known as collars. |
| Chapeau | A hat with a turned-up lining of fur, placed over the helm on which the crest stands; symbolic of especial dignity. |
| Chaplet | Synonumous with floral wreath, e.g. chaplet of roses. |
| Charge | Any device placed upon a shield or upon another item. |
| Chequey (Checky) | Of a shield or charge, covered all over with equal-sized squares, in two alternating colours, set in many rows. |
| Cherub | The lowest order of the heavenly host; shown as a boy's face over two wings. |
| Chevalier | A rank in French-speaking countries, equivalent to an English knight or German ritter. |
| Chevron | A V-shaped strip, inverted, an ordinary 'Per chevron', the field or any area of colour divided as by a chevron. |
| Chevronels | A bent bar on an escutcheon, half the breadth of the chevron; a small chevron |
| Chevronny | The field divided into an equal number of chevron-shaped areas. |
| Chief | The top section of the shield; an ordinary; ('in chief', of charges placed in this area on a shield). |
| Cinquefoil | A stylized flower, with five petals. |
| Circlet | A riband placed around a shield bearing a motto, usually of one of the orders of knighthood. |
| Close | Of a winged creature, when standing on the ground with its wings shut. |
| Coat armour | A heavy, flowing, padded coat worn by knights to protect them from sword cuts, on which were painted their armorial bearings. |
| Coat of Arms | A synomynous term for coat armour; now come to mean that which was painted on the coat, the armorial bearings. Because these are nowadays shown on a shield, a shield with armorial bearings painted on it is known as a Coat of Arms. |
| Cockatrice | A mythological Heraldic monster, synonymous with a basilisk. |
| Coiled | Of a snake, ready to strike. |
| Collar | A chain of office of one of the orders of knighthood. |
| Collared | Of a beast with a collar around its neck; synonymous with 'gorged'; not a chain of an order, unles specified. |
| College of Arms | The building in London where English Heralds have their chambers. |
| Colours | The tinctures of Heraldry that represent red, blue, green, black and purple. |
| Combatant | Two beasts or humans fighting each other. |
| Compartment | A representation of the ground or whatever on which the supporters, shield and motto stand. |
| Compony | Of a row of squares of two alternating, colours, synonymous with 'gobony'. See counter company and chequey. |
| Coronel | Crown-shaped tip of a lance, used in jousting to prevent injury. |
| Coronet | A metal, decorated headwear, symbolic of rank. |
| Cotise | A narrow band placed outside, and separate from, a wider band; can be found in multiples, specified; 'double cottice' should not be confused with bar gemel. |
| Couchant | Of an animal, lying down with head erect. |
| Couche | Of a shield, means it is shown at an angle. |
| Counter | Opposite |
| Counter-charged | A charge placed upon a divided field with the tinctures reversed. |
| Counter-compony | Of two rows of differently coloured square sections arranged alternately. |
| Couped | Of anything, cut off cleanly, for example an arm, head or branch. |
| Courant (current) | Running. |
| Coward | Of a beast or monster with its tail between its legs. |
| Cowed | Of a beast, with its tail between its legs. |
| Crancelin | A crown in the form of an ornamental arched bend. |
| Crane | Usually shown 'in its vigilence', with a stone in its claw. |
| Crescent | A representation of the moon, shown with both horns upright (see also increscent and decrescent). |
| Crest | A decorative accessory placed on the helmet. |
| Crested | Of the crest, in a separate specified colour. |
| Crined | With head-hair or mane, in a separate specified colour. |
| Cross | A horizontal and vertical band, each of the same colour, placed centrally on a shield; an ordinary,('per cross', the field of the shield divided horizontally and vertically into four equal parts, synonymous with 'quarterly'; 'in cross', repeated charges placed upon a shield in a cross formation). |
| Crosslet | A small cross with the end of each arm itself crossed. |
| Crown (Heraldic) | A symbolic charge used to denote an interest in a particular activity. |
| Crozier | A ceremonial staff, symbolizing the role of a shepherd, used by a bishop. |
| Crusily | Covered all over with little crosses. |
| Cubit arm | An arm cut off cleanly between the hand and the elbow. |
| Cuffed | Of the turned-up cuff of a sleeve, in its separate specified colour. |
| Cup | Usually shown covered, and often seen in Heraldry of families named Butler. |
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