Vert (heraldry)

In British heraldry, vert (/vɜːrt/) is the tincture equivalent to green. It is one of the five dark tinctures called colours.

Vert is commonly found in modern flags and coat of arms, and to a lesser extent also in the classical heraldry of the Late Middle Ages and the Early Modern period.

Green flags were historically carried by Ottokar II of Bohemia in the 13th century. In the modern period, a green ensign was flown by Irish vessels, becoming a symbol of Irish nationalism in the 19th and 20th century. The Empire of Brazil used a yellow rhombus on a green field from 1822, now seen in the flag of Brazil. In the 20th century, a green field was chosen for a number of national flag designs, especially in the Arab and Muslim world because of the symbolism of green in Islam, including the solid green flag of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya (1977).

Vert is portrayed in heraldic hatching by lines at a 45-degree angle from upper left to lower right, or indicated by the abbreviation v. or vt. when a coat of arms is tricked.