[Update, January 2024:] For the latest version of this document, see Ordinaries, Divisions, and Arrangements Revisited which includes a few additional terms.
While the language of blazon used to describe armory is filled with hundreds of specialized terms which need to be memorized individually, at its core there’s a set of basic terms that describe a matrix of related ordinaries (simple geometric charges defined by their relationship to the field), divisions (lines splitting the field or a charge into two tinctures), arrangements (placements of charges in a group), and orientations (alignments of charges in a particular direction).
Lord Yehuda ben Moshe created a useful visual guide that makes it easier to see how these terms interrelate, which I have adapted to fit on a single sheet of paper for use in the Visual Reference appendix to The Book of Traceable Heraldic Art.
This is available as a high-resolution PNG or a printable PDF.
As with Yehuda’s original, this document is free to share, post, and modify as you’d like.
