cercelé

A form of sarcelly — Having its end terminate in forked tips which curl around both ways, either like or else more pronounced than moline or anchory/ancré.

Meanings

adjectivecercelé (not comparable)
  1. alternativenot comparableAlternative form of sarcelly.

    Az. a cross cercelé Or, between four cross croslets fitchée Ar.

    1800, The Naval Chronicle, Containing a General and Biographical History of the Royal Navy of the United Kingdom, with a Variety of Original Papers on Nautical Subjects, page 38
    4 more examples

    A Cross Cercelé (which must be the right term , the word signifying in French rounding and circling (or curling) and so is this Cross at its ends.) Leigh writes it Sarcelé, putting s for c, and a for e, as indeed sometimes the French do[…] [Image depicts a cross with ends even more curled back than a cross moline.]

    1682, John Gibbon, Introductio Ad Latinam Blasoniam. An Essay to a More Correct Blason in Latine Than Formerly Hath Been Used. ..., page 70

    Arms - Arg. three falcons' heads erased Sab. within a border Az. charged with eight bezants, impaling G. a cross cercelé, Or - Beake.

    1796, Daniel Lysons, The Environs of London: Counties of Herts, Essex & Kent (1796), page 26

    VACHELL, impaling, quarterly, 1 and 4, Azure, semée of cross-crosslets or, a cross cercelé voided : 2 and 3, Argent, on a chevron three roses gules, KNOLLYS.

    1859, Richard Symonds, Diary of the Marches of the Royal Army During the Great Civil War, page 4

    Armorial bearings -- He bears for Arms : Quarterly 1 and 4, azure, a cross cercelé or (for Brune); 2 and 3 argent, a chevron sable, […]

    1910, Arthur Charles Fox-Davies, Armorial Families: A Directory of Gentlemen of Coat-armour, page 1318
Cite this entry
APA

cercelé. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cercel%C3%A9

MLA

“cercelé.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cercel%C3%A9. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “cercelé,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cercel%C3%A9.

Source: cercelé on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.