What does chevrony mean?
Chevrony is a technical adjective of heraldry, used to describe a shield or field that is divided by chevron-shaped lines, producing alternating bands of color that meet in inverted-V patterns across the surface. Rather than bearing a single chevron as a distinct emblem, a chevrony field is wholly patterned by these angular divisions, typically in two contrasting tinctures such as gold and blue. The term belongs to the specialized language of blazon — the formal system by which coats of arms are described — and appears almost exclusively in armorial rolls, heraldic manuals, and descriptions of medieval and later armory. Its underlying root is shared with the noun chevron, which ultimately descends through Old French from a Vulgar Latin derivative of the Latin word for 'goat', the rafter-like shape having been likened to a pair of goats' legs. For readers outside vexillological and heraldic circles, chevrony is chiefly of interest as an example of the precise, picturesque vocabulary that heraldry developed to encode complex visual designs in words.
adjectiveIn heraldry, describing a shield or field divided by one or more lines shaped like chevrons, so that the surface is covered with alternating bands meeting in an inverted V pattern.
- (Heraldry) Of a shield or field: divided by chevrons, covered with alternating bands meeting in inverted-V lines.
"The medieval banner bore a chevrony field of gold and azure."
"The coat of arms displayed a chevrony pattern of silver and gules."
"Heraldic painters sometimes varied a plain field by making it chevrony of two tinctures."
The word traces back to a Latin word for 'goat' — because a row of chevrons was thought to resemble the zigzag of a roof's rafters, named for their resemblance to goats' legs.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of chevrony
Chevrony derives from the noun chevron, adopted into English from Old French, where it denoted a rafter or the V-shaped figure. The French word is usually traced to a Vulgar Latin form ultimately based on Latin caper, capri-, meaning 'goat' — the angled shape evoking a goat's hind legs — which also gives English words such as capricious and Capricorn. The adjective chevrony arose within English heraldic terminology to describe fields divided by repeated chevron lines.
How chevrony is actually used
Strictly technical vocabulary of heraldry, encountered almost exclusively in armorial descriptions and blazon; rare in everyday English.
Easily confused with chevrony
A chevron is the V-shaped charge or ordinary itself (as on a military insignia), whereas chevrony describes an entire heraldic field divided into such V-shaped bands.