What does frontlet mean?
A frontlet is an ornamental band or decoration worn across the forehead, typically fastened to a headband, hood, or headdress. Historically it could be a simple ribbon, a jeweled circlet, or a richly worked metal plate; in equestrian use it denoted the decorative piece placed on a horse's brow, often displaying a nobleman's arms. The word survives most familiarly in the King James Bible's rendering of Exodus, which instructs the Israelites to keep God's commandments 'for a frontlet between thine eyes,' referring to the small leather phylactery worn at prayer. Today frontlet is uncommon in everyday speech, appearing mainly in costume history, pageantry, and biblical commentary. It lends any description a distinctly antique, ceremonial tone, and its Latin lineage connects it to a whole family of words about faces, fronts, and boldness.
nounA frontlet is an ornamental band or adornment worn across the forehead, especially one attached to a headband; it can also refer to a decorative plate or pendant hung on a horse's forehead.
- An ornamental band, ribbon, or jewel worn across the forehead, often attached to a headband or hood.
- A decorative ornament or plate suspended on a horse's forehead as part of its harness or caparison.
- (Biblical/liturgical) In some translations of Exodus, the phylactery or sign commanded to be bound 'as a frontlet between thine eyes.'
"The bride wore a delicate gold frontlet that gleamed beneath her veil."
"The knight's horse wore a gilded frontlet bearing his coat of arms."
"She pinned a jeweled frontlet above her brows in the fashion of the age."
The plural follows standard noun formation; plural use typically occurs when describing sets of ornaments or multiple animals' harness pieces.
"The stable displayed ceremonial bridles, each fitted with polished silver frontlets."
The King James Bible commands the Israelites to wear a frontlet between their eyes — making this tiny word part of scripture for nearly four centuries.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of frontlet
Frontlet derives ultimately from Latin frons, meaning 'forehead' or 'front,' through Old French frontel or fronteau ('band for the forehead'). It entered English via French in late medieval times, first attested in the Middle English period in connection with women's headdresses. The same Latin root gives rise to cognates such as frontal, affront, confront, and effrontery, all of which preserve the sense of the face or forepart. Its enduring prominence owes much to the King James Bible of 1611, which used it in translating the Hebrew command concerning phylacteries.
How frontlet is actually used
Frontlet is now rare outside historical, heraldic, and biblical contexts. It carries an antique, slightly ceremonial connotation and appears chiefly in descriptions of medieval dress, equestrian trappings, and older translations of scripture. Modern writers usually substitute 'headband' or 'jeweled band' except when deliberately evoking period flavor.
Easily confused with frontlet
A frontal relates to the forehead itself (as in anatomy or architecture), while a frontlet is an ornamental band worn upon it.