What does fesse mean?
In heraldry, a fesse — more commonly spelled fess today — is a horizontal band passing across the middle of a shield from edge to edge. It belongs to the class of charges known as honourable ordinaries, simple geometric figures regarded as the foundation of armorial design, and by convention it fills roughly a third of the shield's height, making it broader than a bar but narrower than a chief. A fesse may be drawn in any of the heraldic colours or metals, and it frequently serves as a background for other charges placed upon it, as in blazons describing "a fesse charged with three crosses." The word derives from the Latin fascia, meaning a band or strip, the same root that produced the English words fascia and fasces. Entirely technical in register, the fesse appears only in the specialised vocabulary of heraldry, yet it remains a staple of the grammar of arms, encountered whenever medieval or noble coats of arms are formally described.
nounIn heraldry, a horizontal band running across the middle of a shield from one side to the other, typically occupying about a third of the field.
- A horizontal ordinary on a coat of arms, crossing the middle of the shield from side to side.
"The coat of arms displayed a golden fesse charged with three red roses."
"The family's arms bore a silver fesse between two lions rampant."
"Heraldic manuals describe the fesse as one of the honourable ordinaries, occupying about a third of the shield."
The plural follows regular English noun inflection and is used when describing shields bearing more than one horizontal band, though multiple bands are usually termed bars rather than fesses.
"Some unusual coats of arms display fesses paired with chevrons in complex patterns."
That stripe on a medieval knight's shield has cousins in ancient Rome: the same Latin root gave us the fasces — the bundle of rods that still appears on US coins and in political symbolism.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of fesse
The word comes from the Old French fesse, itself adopted from Latin fascia, meaning a band, bandage, or strip of cloth. It entered English in the context of heraldry, where the horizontal band on a shield was likened to such a band. The same Latin root gives English both fascia, the architectural moulding and anatomical tissue term, and fasces, the bundled rods carried by Roman magistrates.
Related word forms
How fesse is actually used
A technical term confined almost entirely to heraldry and discussions of coats of arms; it is rare outside specialist contexts, where the spelling "fess" is now more common. It carries no figurative or everyday use in modern English.
Easily confused with fesse
"Fess" is the same heraldic term spelled the modern way; "fesse" is an older or British variant spelling, while "fess up" (to admit) is an unrelated colloquial verb.
A bar also runs horizontally across a shield but occupies roughly a fifth of the field, making it narrower than a fesse.