Chevron (insignia)

A chevron (also spelled cheveron, especially in older documents) is a V-shaped pattern. The word is usually used in reference to a kind of fret in architecture, or to a badge or insignia used in military or police uniforms to indicate rank or length of service, or in heraldry and the designs of flags (see flag terminology).

Ancient history

The chevron occurs in early art including designs on pottery and rock carvings. Examples can be found approximately 1800 BC in archaeological recovery of pottery designs from the palace of Knossos on Crete in the modern day country of Greece.

Heraldry

A chevron is one of the ordinaries in heraldry, one of the simple geometrical figures which are the chief images in many arms. It can be subject to a number of modifications. When the ends are cut off in a way that looks like the splintered ends of a broken piece of wood, with an irregular zig-zag pattern, it is called éclaté. When shown as a smaller size than standard, it is a diminutive called a chevronel.

Origin

The origin seems to be the shape of the rafter of a building. It has been used early in the history of heraldry, especially in Normandy. In Scandinavia the Chevron is known as "spar" and is used on arms since the times of crusades (Example: Arvid Gustavsson Sparre).

The chevron resembles V-shapes including a single bird, a flock of birds, and "graphically, a pubic triangle is most directly rendered as a V," and represented the goddess by 15,000 BCE.

Gallery

Rank insignia

In British Military usage, the idea of using chevrons to denote rank came from whereabouts NCOs were placed in the line in infantry units. In Napoleonic times, units would form up in large, uniform blocks. Lance Corporals (and equivalents) would have marked the corner of a fire team, Corporals the corner of a squad, and Sergeants the corner of a Platoon. This led to the stylised drawing of different numbers of right angles on the sleeves, to denote corners. Over time these turned into the stylised chevrons worn today.

In areas observing Commonwealth of Nations or United States doctrine, chevrons are used as an insignia of enlisted or NCO rank by land military forces and by police. One chevron usually designates a lance corporal, two a corporal, and three a sergeant. One to four "rockers" may be also be incorporated to indicate various grades of sergeant. In American usage, chevrons typically point up, or on shoulderboards towards the neck; in Commonwealth usage (and in the U.S. Navy and U.S. Air Force), they usually point down, or on shoulderboards away from the neck.

In the Commonwealth, the correct terminology for rank chevrons includes the number of stripes, called "bars", therefore, the image on the right hand side is properly termed a "3-bar chevron". A 1-bar chevron indicates a Private in the Canadian Army or Lance Corporal in other Commonwealth armies, a 2-bar chevron indicates a Corporal, and a 3-bar chevron a Sergeant. Canadian Forces often refer to chevrons as "hooks."

Examples

Other uses as insignia

In some armies, small chevrons are worn on the lower left sleeve to indicate length of service, akin to service stripes in the U.S. military.

During the Gulf War, coalition forces displayed single chevrons on their armoured vehicles to prevent friendly fire incidents.

The Israel Defense Forces use chevrons in various orientations as organizational designators on their vehicles.

NASA also has a chevron in its ("meatball") logo.

Punctuation

As a part of punctuation, chevrons (also known as guillemets or angle quotes) usually act as quotation marks, particularly in Spanish and French. Examples would be ‹single quotes› and «double quotes». In German they are used as well, but in inverted form: ›single quotes‹ and »double quotes«. Chevrons are also used in Chinese punctuation, often to enclose the titles of books: ︿ and ﹀ or ︽ and ︾ for traditional vertical printing, and 〈 and 〉 or 《 and 》 for horizontal printing.

Road markings

They are also used as road markings in some stretches of British and Canadian motorways, to help drivers gauge the distance to the car in front, and also on signs on sharp corners in order to denote the tightness of the bend.

Lost tomb of Jesus

The Talpiot Tomb, which in the Discovery Channel documentary "The Lost Tomb of Jesus" was claimed to be the lost tomb of Jesus, is adorned with a Chevron over the entrance.

Other usages

Corporate logos

The French automobile firm Citroën uses a logo commonly referred to as a pair of chevrons, though it originates in the shape of the teeth of special type of gears which that firm made prior to its entering the car business.

The British television company Yorkshire Television used a Yorkshire Television logo.png as its logo, from when its broadcasts began in July 1968 until the company was absorbed into the newly-formed ITV plc in February 2004.

The Chevron Corporation's logo is a pair of chevrons, one blue and one red.

Pony International, an American apparel and shoe company, adorns most of its shoes with a chevron, its logo.

In the Microsoft Windows operating system, the name "chevron" is used for a menu that contains the toolbar icons which do not fit in the space available on the toolbar.

In the Stargate science fiction universe, the outer ring of the Stargate device feature nine chevrons. In normal use, seven chevrons lock in to place as a destination Stargate is dialed.

Amtrak's red, white and blue logo (until 2000) was a chevron, nicknamed by railfans as the pointed arrow.

Boeing calls some of its afterburner jets "variable-geometry chevrons".

Callaway Golf utilizes a chevron in its logo.

Geology

The term chevron has been used to refer to a geologic feature found in coastal regions all over the world. According to an article in The New York Times, chevron is a "enormous wedge-shaped sediment deposit," possibly created by an enormous tsunami after an asteroid impact. However, this idea is very controversial; many scientists believe these features are generated by wind. Similar features, called parabolic dunes, are found on the interior of continents, where they could not be explained by tsunamis. Also, tsunamis usually leave thin sheet-like deposits of sand that do not have the distinct chevron shape.

Sports team colors

The chevron design, with the point downwards, is a popular design for team kits in the sport of rugby league. Australia, feature a gold chevron on a green background.

The team colors of the 2007 World Club Champions, St Helens RFC, are a red chevron on a white shirt.

See also

• Petrosomatoglyph Chevron symbolism.

References