gemel

See also: gemël and ġemel

English

Left: bar gemel. Right: fess voided (charged with mullets). It is said that a difference between a bar gemel and a bar voided is that a bar gemel is a unit and cannot be charged.

Alternative forms

• gemmel

Etymology

From Middle English gemow, from Old French gemel, from Latin gemellus, diminutive of geminus (“twin”). The modern form is influenced by the Latin etymon.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈd͡ʒɛməl/
• Rhymes: -ɛməl

Noun

gemel (plural gemels)

1. (now rare) A twin (also attributively).
   • 1969, Vladimir Nabokov, Ada or Ardor, Penguin, published 2011, page 197:

     half a million which Demon considered henceforth as a loan his cousin should certainly refund him if sanity counted for something on this gemel planet.

2. (heraldry) One of a pair of small bars placed together.
   • 1698, John Strype, Life of the learned Sir Thomas Smith:

     two gemells silver between two griffins passant

3. (historical) A finger ring which splits into two horizontally.
4. A pair of trees that fuse together, or are contained in the same trunk.

Adjective

gemel (not comparable)

1. (heraldry) Coupled; paired.

   A bar gemel / Two bars gemels, or two barrulets placed near and parallel to each other.

Related terms

• jumelle