Chevron

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This page is about the pattern or symbol called a chevron. For information on the global energy company, see Chevron Corporation.


Single Chevron-Rank: Private E2, US Army
Single Chevron-Rank: Private E2, US Army
Chevronels, in the arms of Letchworth Garden City
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Chevronels, in the arms of Letchworth Garden City
Double Chevron-Rank: Corporal E4, US Army
Double Chevron-Rank: Corporal E4, US Army

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). The origin seems to be the shape of the rafters of a building.

In areas observing British Commonwealth 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 private, 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.

Small chevrons are part of the insigne to indicate length of time serving in some armies. They are worn on the lower left sleeve.

In heraldry when shown as a smaller size than standard, it is a diminutive called a chevronel.

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.

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 Y-shaped symbol known as "the chevron" 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.

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 dialled.

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

As a part of punctuation, chevrons (also known as guillemets or angle quotes) usually act as quotation marks, particularly in Spanish, French, and Portuguese. Examples would be ‹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.


The Heraldry Series

Blazon | Crest | Compartment | Field | Line | Mantling | Quartering | Shield | Supporters | Tincture

Argent | Azure | Carnation | Celeste | Cendrée | Gules | Murrey | Or | Purpure | Sable | Sanguine | Tenné | Vert

Bend | Canton | Chevron | Chief | Cross | Fess | Fillet | Flaunch | Pall | Pale | Saltire

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