roundel

English

A version of the London Underground roundel (sense 1) used on Transport for London trains.

The roundel (sense 5) of the Royal Air Force is featured on all British military aircraft.

Alternative forms

• roundle (archaic)

Etymology

From Middle English roundel, rundel, rondel, from Old French rondel (“something round and flat”), a diminutive of rond (“round”). More at round.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɹaʊn.dəl/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

Noun

roundel (plural roundels)

1. Anything having a round form; a round figure; a circle.

   the London Underground roundel

   • 2012, Andrew Martin, Underground Overground: A passenger's history of the Tube, Profile Books, →ISBN, page 93:

     The Overground has been given a seat at the Underground table. It has the roundel, the Johnston typeface, and it is on the Tube map.

2. (music) A roundelay or rondelay.
   • c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “A Midsommer Nights Dreame”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii], line 1:

     Come, now a roundel and a fairy song ... Fairies sing.

3. A small circular shield, sometimes not more than a foot in diameter, used by soldiers in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.
   • 1786, Francis Grose, A Treatise on Ancient Armour and Weapons, page 26:

     The roundel or rondache derived its name from its circular figure, it was made of oziers boards of light wood, sinews or ropes, covered with leather, plates of metal, or stuck full of nails in concentric circles or other figures.

4. (heraldry) A circular spot; a charge in the form of a small coloured circle.
5. (aviation) A circular insignia painted on an aircraft to identify its nationality or service.

   Synonym: cockade

6. A bastion of a circular form.

Translations

anything having a round form

• Bulgarian: кръгче n (krǎgče)

music: a roundelay or rondelay

• Bulgarian: рондо n (rondo)

a small circular shield, sometimes not more than a foot in diameter

• Latin: parmula f

heraldry: a circular spot; a charge in the form of a small coloured circle

• Dutch: koek (nl)
• Finnish: ympyrä (fi)
• French: of tincture: tourteau (fr) m; of metal: besant (fr) m
• German: Kugel (de) f
• Irish: cruinneán m
• Italian: of tincture: torta (it) f, tortello (it) m; of metal: bisante (it) m
• Spanish: roel (es) m
• Swedish: rundel (sv) c, kula (sv) c; of metal: bysantin c

aviation: a circular insignia painted on an aircraft to identify its nationality or service

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 圓標／圆标 (yuánbiāo)

• Marathi: राउंडेल m (rāuṇḍel)

a bastion of a circular form

• Bulgarian: цитадела (bg) f (citadela)
• Polish: basteja f

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• French: ^{(please verify)} cocarde (fr)
• Italian: ^{(please verify)} coccarda (it)

See also

	metals		main colours				less common colours
tincture	or	argent	gules	azure	sable	vert	purpure	tenné	orange	sanguine
depiction
roundel (in parentheses: semé):	bezant (bezanty)	plate (platy)	torteau (tortelly)	hurt (hurty)	pellet (pellety), ogress	pomme	golpe (golpy)	orange (semé of oranges)		guze (semé of guzes)
goutte (noun) / gutty (adj) thereof:	(goutte / gutty) d'or (of gold)	d'eau (of water)	de sang (of blood)	de larmes (of tears)	de poix (of pitch)	d'huile / d'olive (olive oil)
	special roundel	furs								additional, uncommon tinctures:
tincture	fountain, syke: barry wavy argent and azure	ermine	ermines, counter-ermine	erminois	pean	vair	counter-vair	potent	counter-potent	bleu celeste, brunâtre, carnation, cendrée (iron, steel, acier), copper, murrey
depiction

Anagrams

• lounder, roundle, ruled on