gules

• gu. or g. (in heraldic contexts)

From Middle English goules, from Old French geule (“animal’s mouth, throat”) via Middle French geules. Compare with French gueules, Portuguese goelas and Spanish gules.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈɡjuːlz/

  • Audio (UK):

    (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈɡjulz/, /ˈɡulz/
• Homophone: ghouls (one pronunciation)
• Rhymes: -uːlz

gules (uncountable)

1. (heraldry) Red, e.g. on a coat of arms, typically represented in engraving by vertical parallel lines.

   gules:  

• guly

gules

1. (heraldry) In blazon, of the colour red.

   The symbol of the Red Cross is a cross gules.

   • 1602, William Shakespeare, Hamlet, ii 2:

     Now is he total gules, horridly tricked

   • 1820, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Oedipus Tyrannus; Or, Swellfoot The Tyrant: A Tragedy in Two Acts:

     You know they still
     Call themselves Bulls, though thus degenerate,
     And everything relating to a Bull
     Is popular and respectable in Thebes.
     Their arms are seven Bulls in a field gules;
     They think their strength consists in eating beef,—

gules

1. plural of gule

	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

• Guels, glues, gusle, luges

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [ˈɡu.ləs]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [ˈɡu.les]

gules m (uncountable)

1. (heraldry) gules (colour)

gules (invariable)

1. (heraldry) gules

gules m (plural gules)

1. (heraldry) gules

• “gules”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10