Etymologically
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This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 1 November 2026 at 00:22. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˈʃɛvɹən/[1]
  • US: /ˈʃɛvɹɑn/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English cheveroun, also cheveron,[2][3][4] borrowed from Old French chevron (“rafter; chevron”),[4][5][6][7] recorded in Anglo-Norman from the second quarter of the 12th century for a beam or rafter, a ship's spar, a chevron and a wooden peg.[8] The French word is probably from Vulgar Latin *capriō (“rafter”),[4][6][3][9] from Latin caper (“goat”);[6][5][9][10] Merriam-Webster and Partridge derive it from capra (“she-goat”).[11][12] Related forms are Picard caveron, Old Occitan cabrion and Spanish cabrio (“rafter”),[7] and capreolus (“roe deer; prop, rafter”), a diminutive of caprea (“roe deer”), whose plural was used of two pieces of timber leaning against each other.[4][7][13][14] Etymonline and Barnhart suggest that rafters were compared to the angular hind legs of a goat,[5][6] and the American Heritage Dictionary to the forked antlers of a roe deer;[4] Barnhart points to similar names in French, such as chevalet (“easel”) from cheval (“horse”).[6] Hoad compares Old Norse hafr (“he-goat”).[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

In heraldry, a bar bent like two meeting rafters, an inverted V: 1395, in a will printed in Furnivall's Fifty Earliest English Wills.[7][6] Etymonline dates it to the late 14th century.[5] The Middle English Dictionary's quotations begin with the Laud Troy Book, c. 1425, and include a heraldic cheveryn of 1445–6.[2]

Semantic evolution

The heraldic charge, named from the meeting rafters of a roof,[5][15] was one of the earliest ordinaries in English arms;[14] Johnson (1755) described it as two rafters of a house set up as they ought to stand.[15] The literal French sense, a beam or rafter, is recorded in English from 1580, in C. Hollyband's Treasurie of French Tong.[7] The shape itself was used in decorative art from 1605, in a masque by B. Jonson,[7] and in architecture for a zigzag moulding.[14][11] In the 19th century it became the V-shaped badge on the sleeve of non-commissioned officers and police officers, recorded in 1813 in Wellington's dispatches.[7][10] Road signs with black and white chevrons now warn of a sharp bend.[14] The verb, to decorate with chevrons, is recorded from 1543,[7] from the noun or from chevronner.[7][16]

Timeline

  • 1395 – heraldry, a charge shaped like an inverted V.[7][6]
  • 1543 – verb, to decorate with chevrons or a chevron pattern.[7]
  • 1580 – a beam or rafter, especially in the plural, the rafters meeting at the ridge of a roof.[7]
  • 1605 – the chevron shape in decorative art.[7]
  • 1813 – a V-shaped badge on the sleeve of a non-commissioned officer.[7]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A V-shaped stripe, or set of stripes, worn on the sleeve of a uniform to show rank, as of a non-commissioned officer, or length of service.[14][11][7]
  2. (heraldry) A charge shaped like an inverted V, made of two bands meeting at the top of the shield; one of the ordinaries.[14][11][7]
  3. Any V-shaped figure, pattern or object, especially an ornamental zigzag moulding.[14][11][7]
  4. (usually plural) A row of black and white V shapes on a road sign marking a sharp bend.[14]
  5. A beam or rafter, especially one of the pair meeting at the ridge of a roof.[7][16]

Verb

  1. To decorate with chevrons or with a chevron pattern.[7][16]

Word family

  • chevroned
  • chevronel
  • cab
  • cabriolet
  • cheverel
  • caper

Usage notes

A Scottish word chevron, a glove, apparently a kid glove, is recorded from before 1670 to 1828;[7][16] the OED takes it as an error for cheverel, kid leather,[7] and Merriam-Webster derives it perhaps from a Middle French word for a kid, chevron.[11]

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
  3. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  4. ^ a b c d e The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  5. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  6. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
  9. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  10. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  11. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  12. ^ Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
  13. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  14. ^ a b c d e f g h Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  15. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  16. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press