CHEVRON, any ornament formed of two slanting lines meeting at an angle. In heraldry it is a bent bar. It is also one of the most common distinguishing marks for military and naval uniforms, where it is placed on the sleeves and serves either as a mark of honour or to indicate a special function. In architecture, the term is sometimes applied to the angle formed by the meet ing rafters of a roof, but it is more commonly used for the purely decorative form. Chevrons joined together zigzag are one of the commonest of Romanesque geometric ornaments, especially in areas under Norman influence. It is a frequent decoration for arch mouldings and column shafts. The chevron appears early in primitive work and is found on pottery all over the world. It also occurs frequently in textiles, on Egyptian walls and ceilings, and in Aegean art as a column decoration (e.g., Tholos of Atreus at Mycenae, C. 1200 B.C.). (For military use see STRIPE.)