Meaning and Description of Coat of Arms Symbols

A coat of arms often contains colors. Each color has a particular meaning. The color yellow or gold represents generosity and elevation of the mind. White or silver represents peace and sincerity. Red represents military strength, blue stands for truth and loyalty and green represents hope, joy and loyalty in love. Other colors used are black, which stands for grief, purple represents majesty and orange is a color of worthy ambition. The colors used on a coat of arms each represent some time of virtue. When a coat of arms is created, the colors used are chosen carefully.

Lines are another part of a coat of arms that contain meanings. Lines that are engrailed represent the earth or land. Wavy or dancing lines represent some type of water. If a line is indented in some way there is a meaning of fire within the coat of arms.

Many coats of arms have symbols known as marks of cadency. These symbols are used to indicate different branches within one family. These marks represent the order of sons being born. The first born son is represented with a label. A crescent marks the second son and a mullet the third. There is a particular symbol for each son through the ninth.

A coat of arms contains many different symbols. In fact, there are hundreds of different pictures used to illustrate different meanings. Several popular pictures used are a cherub, cornucopia, horseshoe and bear. A cherub means glory and honor, which is an important virtue to families. A cornucopia represents bounty of nature. This was a common picture used centuries ago because being plentiful was also an honorable and grateful aspect in life. The horseshoe is a picture used to represent good luck. It also was a symbol that was thought to be a safeguard against evil spirits. A picture of a bear means strength and ferocity.