Our website is made possible by displaying online advertisements to our visitors.
Please consider supporting us by disabling your ad blocker.

Responsive image

Dexter and sinister

Not to be confused with sinistral and dextral.
For dexter and sinister in biology, see anatomical terms of location.
Division of the heraldic escutcheon: dexter to the bearer's right (viewer's left), the position of honour; sinister to the bearer's left (viewer's right).
The different view points of knight and viewer; the heraldic view is that of the knight. Charges on the shield, like this lion rampant, look to the dexter side unless otherwise stated in the blazon - unless reversed for heraldic courtesy, a practice more common in Continental Europe than in Britain

Dexter and sinister are terms used in heraldry to refer to specific locations in an escutcheon bearing a coat of arms, and to the other elements of an achievement. Dexter (Latin for 'right')[1] indicates the right-hand side of the shield, as regarded by the bearer, i.e. the bearer's proper right, and to the left as seen by the viewer. Sinister (Latin for 'left')[2] indicates the left-hand side as regarded by the bearer – the bearer's proper left, and to the right as seen by the viewer. In vexillology, the equivalent terms are hoist and fly.

Argent a bend sinister gules. The bend sinister extends upward to the sinister corner, while the bend (i.e. bend dexter) extends upward to the dexter corner of a shield.
  1. ^ Cawley, Kevin; Florin Neumann; Matt Neuberg; Lynn Nelson (2012). "Latin Dictionary and Grammar Aid". University of Notre Dame Archives. Retrieved 2012-09-04.
  2. ^ Cawley, Kevin. "Latin Dictionary and Grammar Aid". Latin Word Lookup. University of Notre Dame. Archived from the original on 2023-03-26. Retrieved 2016-07-10.

Previous Page Next Page






Dexter και sinister Greek Diestra y siniestra Spanish Gauche et droite French Kanan dan kiri (heraldik) ID Heraldisk høyre og venstre NB Direita e esquerda (heráldica) Portuguese Heraldisk höger och vänster Swedish Праворуч і ліворуч Ukrainian Chiàⁿ-pêng kap tò-pêng (bûn-chiong-ha̍k) ZH-MIN-NAN

Responsive image

Responsive image