hamade

H4A1M3A1D2E1

noun

A bar that does not touch the edges of the shield, especially if borne as part of a set of three (which may be of equal length, or have the top bar longer than the bottom one; and may have straight edges, or slanted edges with the base shorter than the top).

Scrabble 12

Meanings

nounhamade (plural hamades)

plural hamades · alternative hamaide

  1. governmentA bar that does not touch the edges of the shield, especially if borne as part of a set of three (which may be of equal length, or have the top bar longer than the bottom one; and may have straight edges, or slanted edges with the base shorter than the top).

    It consists of a bar couped at each end, but was originally always borne in threes. There is a dispute as to whether a hamade is properly three couped bars and therefore cannot be borne singly. The adjective humetty (q.v.) is[…]

    1985, John Philip Brooke-Little, An Heraldic Alphabet, Robson Books Limited
    1 more example

    I said I thought that a hamade consists of three trunked bars, even though the Bigot Roll of 1254 blazons d'Abrichecourt's arms as having 'three hamades.' The writers in the Antiquaries' Journal, however, in addition to the Bigot Roll,[…]

    1952, The Coat of Arms: An Heraldic Quarterly Magazine

Origin

From French, derived from the town of La Hamaide (in Belgium).

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Anagrams

Cite this entry
APA

hamade. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hamade

MLA

“hamade.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hamade. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “hamade,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hamade.

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