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tabard

UK/ˈtæbɑː(ɹ)d/US/ˈtæbɑː(ɹ)d/
nounC2Very rare — outside the 30,000 commonest English words, so you will meet it in writing rather than in speechleans written

Other forms: tabards

A tabard is a short sleeveless coat bearing a coat of arms. A herald's tabard, wear a tabard, an embroidered tabard.

Heralds still wear one at state occasions, embroidered with the royal arms. The modern descendant is the plain tabard worn over clothes for work, which keeps only the shape.

Definitions of tabard

  1. 1nountabardA short sleeveless coat bearing a coat of arms.C2

    “The knight wore a tabard over his armour, embroidered with a red lion.”

tabard is a garment.

Where it comes from

Old French tabart names the garment, of unknown further origin.

  1. Old French

    tabart — simple sleeveless overtunic; heavy overmantel

  2. English, today

    tabard

From Old French tabart (“simple sleeveless overtunic; heavy overmantel”), of unknown origin.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in A Song of Ice and Fire

Practise this word

tabard in the wild

  • A tabard is a type of short coat that was commonly worn by men during the late Middle Ages and early modern period in Europe.

    Tabard

  • Like other officers of arms, a herald would often wear a surcoat, called a tabard, decorated with the coat of arms of his master.

    Herald

  • In the United Kingdom heralds are still called upon at times to read proclamations publicly; for which they still wear tabards emblazoned with the royal coat of arms.

    Herald

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.