Flag Terminology Glossary

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Flag Terminology Glossary

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The design and description of flags typically uses specialized flag terminology with precise and technical meanings, and is hence a form of jargon.

Description of standard flag parts and terms

Badge

a coat of arms or simple heraldic symbol, such as a shield.

Canton

any quarter of a flag, but commonly means the upper hoist (left) quarter, such as the field of stars in the flag of the United States or the Union Flag in the Australian Flag.

Charge

a figure or symbol appearing in the field of a flag.

Emblem

a device often used as a charge on a flag. It may be heraldic in origin or modern, for example the maple leaf on the Canadian Flag.

Field

the background of a flag; the color behind the charges.

Fimbriation

a narrow edging or border, often in white or gold, on a flag to separate two other colors. For example the white lines of the South African Flag.

Fly

the half or edge of a flag farthest away from the flagpole. This term also sometimes refers to the horizontal length of a flag.

Hoist

the half or edge of a flag nearest to the flagpole. This term also sometimes refers to the vertical width of a flag.

Length

the span of a flag along the side at right angles to the flagpole.

Width

the span of a flag down the side parallel to the flagpole.

Basic patterns in flags

Techniques in flag display

Hoist – the act or function of raising a flag, as on a rope.
Lower – the act or function of taking down a flag, as on a rope.
Half Staff or Half Mast – a style of flag display where the flag is flown at the width of the flag from the top. Usually this is done by first hoisting the flag to the top, then lowering it the width of the flag. Similarly, when lowering a half-mast flag, you raise it to full height and then lower it.(Equally valid 'half-masting' is flying the flag at two-thirds of its normal height. This is especially applicable where the full height of the pole is not visible to most observers; for instance, where the pole is mounted on the roof of a building and the lower portion of the pole is not visible from street level.) This usually denotes distress or a show of grief, such as mourning a death. The use of 'mast' suggests naval use but typically the two terms are interchangeable.
Distress – flying the flag upside-down, or tying it into a wheft.

Illustrations

Flag illustrations generally depict flags flying from the observer's point of view from left to right, the view known as the obverse (or "front"); the other side is the reverse (or "back"). There are some exceptions, notably some Islamic flags inscribed in Arabic, for which the obverse is defined as the side with the hoist to the observer's right.

Vexillological symbols

A vexillological symbol is used by vexillologists to indicate certain characteristics of national flags, such as where they are used, who uses them, and what they look like. The set of symbols described in this article are known as international flag identification symbols, which were devised by Whitney Smith.

National flag variants by use

Some countries use a single flag design to serve as the national flag in all contexts of use; others use multiple flags that serve as the national flag, depending on context (who is flying the national flag and where). The six basic contexts of use (and potential variants of a national flag) are:

civil flag – Flown by citizens on land.

state flag – Flown on public buildings.

war flag – Flown on military buildings.

civil ensign – Flown on private vessels (fishing craft, cruise ships, yachts, etc.).

state ensign – Flown on unarmed government vessels.

war ensign – Flown on warships.

In practice, a single design may be associated with multiple such usages; for example, a single design may serve a dual role as war flag and ensign. Even with such combinations, this framework is not complete: some countries define designs for usage contexts not expressible in this scheme such as air force ensigns (distinct from war flags or war ensigns, flown as the national flag at air bases) and civil air ensigns.

Other symbols

Other symbols are used to describe how a flag looks, such as whether it has a different design on each side, or if it is hung vertically, etc. These are the symbols in general use:

Normal or de jure version of flag, or obverse side