bend sinister

English

Argent, a bend sinister gules.

Noun

bend sinister (plural bends sinister)

1. (heraldry) A diagonal band on a coat of arms going from the sinister chief (the viewer's top right) to the dexter base, sometimes erroneously held to indicate bastardy.
2. (figuratively, dated) Bastardy, (by extension) a defect or stigma.
   • 1904, Warwick Deeping, Love Among the Ruins, page 101:

     A ‘bend sinister’ ran athwart his reputation as a priest. Men muttered that he was an infidel, a blasphemous vagabond, versed in all the damnable heresies of antiquity.

   • 1956, Carlile Aylmer Macartney, October Fifteenth: A History of Modern Hungary, 1929–1945, volume 1, page 105:

     Rumour credited his family tree with both a 50 per cent. Jewish strain and a bend sinister.

   • 2021, J. S. Emery, A Clockwork River‎^[1], →ISBN:

     “I am a gentleman,” he began slowly, his back still turned, and his fingers moving busily. “Or rather, the blood of a gentleman flows through my veins.” […] “A bend sinister. Poor lad!”

Derived terms

• per bend sinister

 

Translations

diagonal band on coat of arms going from top right to bottom left

• Catalan: barra (ca) f
• Czech: břevno pošikem m
• Dutch: schuinstreep sinister
• French: barre (fr) f
• German: Schräglinksbalken m
• Italian: sbarra (it) f
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: skråbjelke m

• Portuguese: barra (pt) f
• Spanish: barra (es) f
• Swedish: ginbalk c

See also

• bar sinister
• baton sinister

Further reading

• bend sinister on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

References

• The Manual of Heraldry, Fifth Edition, by Anonymous, London, 1862, online at [2]