(with acknowledgement to A New Dictionary of Heraldry ed. Stephen Friar, Alpha Books; 1987)
| Annulet | A ring | ||
| Appaumé | A hand showing the palm | ||
| Argent | Silver | ||
| Azure | Blue | ||
| Badge | An armorial device; not part of a coat of arms | ||
| Bar | A diminutive of the Fess | ||
| Barry | Several bars | ||
| Bend | A broad band extending from top left to bottom right of the shield; a narrow bend is called a bendlet | ||
| Between | Surrounded by | ||
| Bezant | A golden disc | ||
| Cadency | Method of identifying male members of a family | ||
| Canton | A small square at the top corner of the shield | ||
| Charged with | Having a charge | ||
| Charge | Describes a single pictorial representation or geometrical shape on the shield | ||
| Chevron | An inverted V | ||
| Chief | A broad band covering the uppermost portion of the shield | ||
| Cinquefoil | A figure with five radiating petals | ||
| Coat of Arms | Usually refers to the whole shield | ||
| Cockatrice | A wyvern or two-legged dragon with a cock’s head | ||
| Collared | Having a plain collar | ||
| Conjoined | Joined together. In Lure means joined with wingtips upwards | ||
| Cotise | A diminutive of the bend (q.v.), usually on either side of the bend | ||
| Counterchanged | A shield the colour of whose parts & charges are reversed on either side of a dividing line | ||
| Couped | Cut short horizontally | ||
| Courant | Running | ||
| Crescent | A crescent moon shape, often small and denoting a second son | ||
| Crest | A three-dimensional device mounted on the helmet | ||
| Crosses | Various kinds including the saltire, a St. Andrew’s cross | ||
| Crusily | A field covered in crosses | ||
| Cuffed | Having cuffs | ||
| Demi | Only upper half depicted | ||
| Dexter | Right (but on left hand side as you look at the shield) | ||
| Displayed | Wings spreadeagled | ||
| Elevated | Wings pointing upwards | ||
| Ensigned | Having a charge placed above | ||
| Eradicated | Uprooted | ||
| Erased | Torn off | ||
| Escallop | A scallop shell | ||
| Escutcheon | A small shield represented as a charge. | ||
| Estoile | A star of six wavy rays | ||
| Fess | A broad horizontal band crossing the centre of the shield | ||
| Fetterlock | A shackle for a horse, usually a lock and clasp | ||
| Flory | Charges terminating in or ornamented with a fleur de lis | ||
| Flory Counter Flory | Charges decorated with fleur de lis alternately on either side | ||
| Fretty | A trellis pattern of interlaced bendlets | ||
| Fur | Ermine (black ermine tails on a white field or background) includes Vair – a pattern originating in the pelts of the species of squirrel | ||
| Fusil | An elongated lozenge | ||
| Fusilly | Covered in fusils | ||
| Gamb | The lower part of a beast's leg (usually a lion) | ||
| Garb | A sheaf of corn | ||
| Guardant | Head turned to face the observer | ||
| Gules | Red | ||
| Habited | Clothed | ||
| Impaling | Two coats side by side | ||
| In centre | In the middle of | ||
| In lure | Two wings joined with tips upwards | ||
| In pale | One above the other; also palewise or per pale | ||
| In pretence | Relates to a small escutcheon (shield) in centre of shield | ||
| Indented | Sharp V-shapes joined | ||
| Issuant | Emerging or proceeding from | ||
| Langued | Describing the colour of the tongue of a creature | ||
| Lozenge | A diamond shape; includes a Fusil (an elongated lozenge) | ||
| Mantling | A protective cloth affixed to the helmet | ||
| Martlet | The heraldic martin, depicted with its legs terminating in two tufts of feathers | ||
| Mural | In the form of an embattled wall | ||
| Naiant | Swimming | ||
| Nebuly | Semicircular shapes joined | ||
| Or | Gold | ||
| Ordinaries | Geometrical shapes | ||
| Overall | Something placed above every other feature (coats of arms are three-dimensional) | ||
| Pale | A broad vertical band crossing the centre of the shield | ||
| Pall | A broad Y shape with limbs extending to the edges of the shield | ||
| Parted Field | The surface of the shield | ||
| Passant | A lion walking by | ||
| Per saltire | In form of a St. Andrew's cross | ||
| Pile | A triangular wedge | ||
| Plate | A silver roundel | ||
| Potent | Crutch-shaped; a variety of the armorial fur vair; a cross potent has crutch-shaped limbs | ||
| Proper | Depicted in natural colour | ||
| Quarterly | Four coats on one shield numbered I, II, III, IV. One and four are usually the same, as are two and three. If more than four they will be given as quarterly of six, for example. | ||
| Rampant | A lion erect, one paw on the ground, the other three raised; the beast looking forward having its tail erect | ||
| Red Hand of Ulster | A red left hand cut off at the wrist. The badge of an hereditary baronet | ||
| Roundel | A flat coloured disc. A Bezant is gold and a plate is silver | ||
| Sable | Black | ||
| Saltire | A St Andrew’s cross | ||
| Segreant | A griffin when rampant | ||
| Sinister | Left (but on right hand side as you look at the shield) | ||
| Slipped | Of a flower or leaf with the stalk attached | ||
| Springing | Standing with all feet on the ground | ||
| Surmounted by | Something placed above | ||
| Trefoil | A clover leaf | ||
| Tressure | A narrow border running parallel to the edge of the shield | ||
| Vair | A pattern originating in the pelts of a species of squirrel | ||
| Varied Fields | Varied surfaces tinctured one colour, one metal alternating | ||
| Vert | Green | ||
| Vested | Clothed |