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Two beasts sharing a lion's hindquarters, and how to tell which you are looking at.
Look at the front half. A griffin has an eagle's beaked head, pointed ears, feathered wings and taloned forelegs on a lion's hindquarters; a lion is a lion throughout. A wingless griffin is not an error either — the male griffin is a distinct charge drawn without wings and set about with spikes.
A griffin has an eagle's head, wings and forelegs on a lion's body, and is often mistaken for a winged lion.
| Lion (heraldic charge) | Griffin (heraldic charge) | |
|---|---|---|
| Head | Feline, with a mane | Eagle's, beaked, with pointed ears |
| Forelegs | Clawed feline paws | Eagle's talons |
| Wings | None | Feathered, except on the male griffin |
| Hindquarters | Feline | Feline — the shared half |
| Tail | Tufted at the tip | Lion's tail |
| Relationship (from Symbolwise's records) | Commonly confused with Griffin (heraldic charge) — A griffin has an eagle's head, wings and forelegs on a lion's body, and is often mistaken for a winged lion. | Commonly confused with Lion (heraldic charge) — A griffin has an eagle's head, wings and forelegs on a lion's body, and is often mistaken for a winged lion. |
Arthur Charles Fox-Davies (1909), via Project Gutenberg · retrieved 2026-08-20
The standard English-language reference, and a period one: published 1909, so it states Edwardian English practice as though universal and is occasionally sharp about continental usage. Cited for blazon terminology, the conventional depiction of charges, and — notably — for its own detailed refutation of tincture symbolism.
Wikipedia · retrieved 2026-08-20
Tertiary reference. Cited for the blazon term, the conventional form of a charge and uncontested historical detail. Never cited for a claim that a charge carries a fixed symbolic meaning.
A bend runs from the top left of the shield to the bottom right as you look at it; a bend sinister runs the other way. The bend sinister is widely said to mark illegitimacy, and that is not quite right: the mark used in English practice was the narrower baton sinister, granted case by case rather than applied automatically. 'Bar sinister' is not a heraldic term at all — a bar is horizontal and cannot be sinister.
Look at what the arms end in. A cross patonce widens outward and splits into three splayed points at each end; a cross fleury ends in a full fleur-de-lis. In practice the two are drawn so similarly that the standard authorities themselves differ over particular coats, and this is one of the genuinely unsettled distinctions in blazon.
Count the points. Both have arms that narrow at the centre and widen outward. A cross pattée ends in four straight edges — four points in total. A Maltese cross has each outer edge notched inward, producing two points per arm and eight in all.
Size and feet. An eagle is a principal charge, drawn large with wings spread and talons showing. A martlet is small, swallow-like, and has no feet at all — tufts of feathers appear where the legs would be. The martlet is also a cadency mark: in English practice it identifies a fourth son.