---
title: "Heraldry Glossary: Terms Illustrated A to Z | Crest Lantern"
description: "Over 100 heraldry terms in plain English, from argent and azure to saltire and vair, searchable and illustrated with small shields and tincture swatches."
url: https://crestlantern.top/heraldry-glossary/
---

# Heraldry glossary

The language of coats of arms in plain English: tinctures, divisions, ordinaries, charges, positions and the parts of a full achievement.

## Reading the glossary

Terms are grouped the way a blazon is built: first the tinctures, then how the field is divided, the ordinaries, the charges, where things are placed, the parts of a full achievement, and finally the language and law of arms. The search looks through both terms and definitions, so “red” finds Gules and “left” finds dexter and sinister. Each term name is also a link, so you can share an address that opens the glossary at that term.

The small pictures are drawn by the same code as the [coat of arms designer](https://crestlantern.top/), so what you read here is what you can build there. A divided field is shown in Or and Azure, an ordinary in Or on Azure.

Many words come from the Anglo-Norman French spoken by medieval heralds, which is why the tinctures sound French and why adjectives follow nouns in a blazon: “a lion rampant”, “three mullets Argent”. Definitions follow A. C. Fox-Davies and James Parker, whose books are free to read online.

## Sources

- A. C. Fox-Davies, *A Complete Guide to Heraldry* (1909). [Project Gutenberg](https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/41617)
- James Parker, *A Glossary of Terms Used in Heraldry* (1894 edition). [Online edition](https://www.heraldsnet.org/saitou/parker/Jpintro.htm)
- College of Arms, [Frequently asked questions](https://www.college-of-arms.gov.uk/resources/faqs).
- [The Court of the Lord Lyon](https://www.courtofthelordlyon.scot/).

## Questions

**Why is dexter on the left?**

Because heraldry describes the shield from behind, as the person carrying it sees it. Their right hand side is dexter, which is your left as you face them.

**Is every heraldic term here?**

No: it covers the words you meet most often. Parker's glossary has thousands more, many with pictures.

**Do I have to blazon in this style?**

No. Blazon conventions vary between countries and periods; the forms here are common modern English usage.