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(shĕvrən)

1. A badge or insignia consisting of stripes meeting at an angle, worn on the sleeve of a military or police uniform to indicate rank, merit, or length of service.

2. Heraldry A device shaped like an inverted V.

3. A V-shaped pattern, especially a kind of fret used in architecture.

[Middle English cheveron, from Old French chevron, rafter (from the meeting of rafters at an angle), probably from Vulgar Latin *capriō, *capriōn-; akin to Latin capreolus, young of the roe deer, rafter (from the resemblance of the rafters of a pitched roof to the forked antlers of the roe deer), from diminutive of caprea, roe deer, from Latin caper, capr-, goat.]

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lance-sergeant in the

British Foot Guards

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

Indo-European Roots

Semitic Roots

The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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